Bongbong Marcos: Rock Star of Philippine Politics

Volume 3, Issue No. 52

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

 

 Our latest as of Friday, May 20, 2022 

~ The historic mandate is undeniably huge: more than 31 million votes for each of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, namely, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte, respectively. What he had dreamt of in his teen years - to be a rock star - has come to be realized. Now, Marcos, fondly called BBM and/or Bongbong, is THE rock star of Philippine politics, just as Sara Duterte is. 

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FERDINAND "BONGBONG" MARCOS JR.

'Rock Star' of Philippine Politics

Over 31-M Voters Chose Him To Be the Next President

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

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• "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

TORONTO - In his youth not too long ago, Bongbong Marcos (formally Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) dreamt of becoming a musician. And an astronaut.

The juvenile ambitions put a time frame to the moment he had made them known. Only one came to be realized somewhat, and the other just wished away for its impossibility. It was the late sixties and early seventies.

The Philippines was facing a revolution of sorts - in the field of music - where a handful of teenagers similarly inclined as Bongbong were itching to carve the local music scene into a lyrical, more patriotic mode.

(This article was originally written for the May 2022 issue of Filipinos Making Waves newspaper here in Toronto: www.filipinosmakingwaves.com).

That was the period of transformation, the change spearheaded by a new music genre called Manila Sound originated by the Hotdog band composed of brothers Dennis Garcia and Rene Garcia; La Salle Greenhills' buddies Lorrie Ilustre and Ramon Torralba; Jess Garcia of Ateneo, and later Ella del Rosario of Assumption Convent as female vocalist.

Manila Sound eventually gave way to OPM, the Original Pilipino Music, which saw the full blossoming of local talents, and the birth of such mega-hits as Pers Lab (composed by now-Toronto resident Mon Torralba), Manila, Bongga Ka 'Day, Annie Batungbakal, and many more.

Perhaps, OPM is entwined with the evolution of Bongbong Marcos from a youthful dreamer to what we know today as the soon-to-be President of the Philippines who won a historic landslide victory along with incoming Vice President Sara Duterte.

He had visualized himself not just as a musician but as a rock star, undoubtedly influenced by the rising tide of OPM that was sweeping the country then. He said inherited the love for music from his mother, the former first lady Imelda R. Marcos.

"I'm jealous of you," he tells singer Toni Gonzaga. "I wanted to be a musician," he stresses. "Dalawa lang ang ambisyon ko nung maliit, when I was about 12 years old - maging rock star . . . maging astronaut".

Bongbong juxtaposes that seemingly innocuous moment when OPM was just beginning with the vision of his father - Ferdinand "Ferdie" Marcos Sr., who was first elected president in 1965, reelected in 1969, became a strongman in 1972, and toppled in a "people power" revolt in 1986.

"He brought a sense of nationhood. We were proud to be Filipinos. And we went out abroad and say we're Filipinos," he informs Gonzaga, who is also a podcaster, in an interview aired in September 2021. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EwMAiqLUhM).

" . . . And not a small part of that is OPM (Original Pilipino Music) because it's the culture. You learn about this. It's what it means to be a Pinoy, to be Filipino. And that happened during his time," he explains.

That statement, as spontaneous as it was made, was an unsolicited tribute to OPM in general, and to the group that made it possible up to this day.

His mention of OPM in relation to Filipino pride and in the larger context of nationhood shows a yearning for Filipino unity that was at the core of his political campaign and is now his mandate for governance.

As he correctly pointed out, OPM, though always there in another setting but untapped, "is the culture" wanting full acceptance by Filipinos themselves. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIkU9wOXN0).

Blame the elder Marcos for everything that went wrong in his tenure, but he had the will to institutionalize it through programs led by Mrs. Marcos.

Bongbong had recognized what his father meant, and OPM was just one vehicle to achieve the unity that had evaded his father but now sits on his lap to attain.

His dream of becoming a musician did not exactly slip away. At a celebration over four decades ago aboard the presidential yacht cruising Manila Bay, Bongbog belted out one of the Hotdog band's signature songs - Pers Lab or Ikaw ang Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6YDy_SvYWg).

Which of the two, Pers Lab songwriter Torralba, who was on the ship with the band, doesn't remember.

Whatever it was, Bongbong had his one shining moment then as a musician, not quite a rock star in the musical firmament but now as THE "Rock Star of Philippine Politics" as the President of the Philippines with the biggest popular mandate in history. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).