Since taking office, the current president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has abandoned the more prudent diplomatic approach of previous Philippine presidents and turned to the so-called "United States" road. In order to cooperate with the so-called "Asia-Pacific strategy" of the United States, it can be said that the Marcos Jr. administration has completely become a "pawn" of the United States to intervene in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific, and this has naturally aroused the indignation of neighboring countries. At the same time, the perverse actions of the Marcos Jr. administration have also made some people in the Philippines feel very dissatisfied.
Recently, the Philippine "important figure", former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, publicly made a startling statement at a rally calling on the Philippine military to rise up and overthrow Marcos Jr. in order to "avoid a possible future war and the more serious consequences that follow". As soon as this person's remarks came out, they immediately caused an uproar in the Philippines.
You know, this Pantaleon Alvarez is not an ordinary person, but an important figure in the top level of the Philippines. This person once served as the speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives during the Duterte era, and has a very close relationship with Duterte. In addition, he is an important city in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, and a representative of the first constituency in Davao City, Duterte's hometown. In addition, this Alvarez is also a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, and his rank is actually not low, which means that this person also has a certain influence in the Navy.
So, why did Pantaleon Alvarez, who is an "important figure" in the Philippines, openly call for the overthrow of the current Philippine president? The author believes that there are several main reasons for this:
First of all, the most direct reason is Marcos Jr.'s attempt to "revise the constitution" in the Philippines, which is also the purpose of Pantaleón Álvarez's participation in the rally. Marcos Jr. and his family are vainly trying to occupy the core of power in the Philippines for a long time, so they are preparing to carry out "constitutional amendment" in the Philippines, and such improper behavior will inevitably arouse the dissatisfaction of many high-level Philippine leaders.
Secondly, Pantaleón Alvarez made such remarks, which obviously have a lot to do with the contradictions between the two Philippine presidents, Duterte and Marcos Jr. Marcos Jr. and Duterte's "incompatibility" is basically an "open secret" of the Philippines. As Duterte's "hometown" and cronies, Pantaleón Álvarez is naturally also a "thorn in the side" of Marcos Jr., and will inevitably be oppressed by the Marcos Jr. authorities. Therefore, the author believes that this time this Pantaleón Álvarez may have been "forced to hurry", which is why he made such an astonishing statement.
Finally, the deep-seated reason has a lot to do with the local differences and contradictions between Luzon, where Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is located, and Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippine archipelago. Compared with the more "Westernized" Luzon, Mindanao has long been at odds with the Philippine authorities on Luzon for cultural and historical reasons, and the local indigenous peoples, such as the Moro people, are not at odds with Luzon, which has long been influenced by Western culture. On the other hand, Manila is also very jealous of Mindanao, and many times does not regard it as "its own person", for example, since the establishment of the Philippines in 1946, Mindanao has been the president of the Philippines, and Duterte is the only one so far.
Previously, a series of economic cooperation between China and Mindanao, such as the Mindanao railway project, were forcibly suspended by the Marcos Jr. administration, which further aroused the dissatisfaction of Mindanao, which is already in an average economic situation. And this Pantaleon Alvarez, as a local powerful figure in Mindanao, is also very dissatisfied with the Marcos Jr. authorities, Pantaleon Alvarez has previously said that if Marcos Jr. continues to provoke in the South China Sea, he will take the entire island of Mindanao to "break" from the Philippines so as not to be affected.
In summary, it is not surprising why Pantaleón Álvarez made a statement to "overthrow" Marcos Jr. However, Pantaleon Alvarez's remarks were not supported by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and on the contrary, Philippine Secretary of Defense Teodoro and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, General Romeo Brauner, both strongly refuted Pantaleon Alvarez's claims. As the "old club" of Pantaleon Alvarez, the Philippine Navy also reacted very strongly, saying that it wanted the Philippine Marine Corps to open an investigation into Pantaleon Alvarez!
It can be seen that Pantaleón Alvarez is now also unlucky, once Alvarez is really investigated by the Marcos Jr. authorities, then Duterte himself is likely to be the next target of Pony!
At present, the situation in the Philippines is really turbulent, and we will continue to observe how the situation in the Philippines will develop.