MANILA, Philippines — In a rare, lengthy sit-down conversation made public on Monday, May 19, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. sought to reframe the remaining three years of his presidency just days after a devastating midterm loss that saw not even half of his anointed bets nab seats in the Senate.
“I have two conclusions dito sa eleksyon. Una, nagsawa nalang Pilipino sa pulitika. Sawang-sawa na sa pulitika. Ang mensahe, sa amin lahat – hindi lamang sa akin, kung hindi sa aming lahat – tama na ‘yung pamumulitika ninyo at kami naman ang asikasuhin ninyo,” Marcos, dressed casually in a button-down shirt and speaking directly to a micrphone, podcast-style, told broadcaster Anthony Tarberna.
(I have two conclusions in this election. First, the Filipino is done with politics. They’re sick of it. The message to us all — not just to me, but to us all — is that it’s time to stop the politicking and focus instead on the people.)
If, after his nail-bitting loss in the 2016 vice presidential race, Marcos turned to vlogging, it seems he’s choosing a near similar path nearly a decade later — in what Malacañang has dubbed the “BBM Podcast.”
“Iyong pangalawa, disappointed ang tao sa serbisyo ng gobyerno. Hindi nila nararamdaman at masyadong mabagal ang galaw nang pagbubuo ng mga project na hindi pa nila maramdaman,” admitted the President.
(Second, people are disappointed with government services. They were unable to feel it and projects were rolled out too slowly, so they do not feel it.)
Targeting gut issues
Marcos’ second insight, at least, should have been a long time coming. Midway in the 2025 campaign period, after all, a Pulse Asia showed that majority of Filipinos neither trusted nor approved of him and his governance. Those surveyed, in particular, rated the adminsitration poorly in how they were handling gut issues — the price of goods, job creation, graft and corruption, criminality, and poverty.
All five issues, Marcos “addressed” in the 28-minute sit-down with Taberna, who had previously also interviewed the media-averse First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos.
On the shortcomings of his administation, Marcos said they’d focused too much on long-term projects that take a while to roll out while overlooking more “immediate” ones: “Nag-concentrate kami lahat, ‘yung Gabinete, lahat, sinasabi ko, ito ‘yung mga importante. Kailangan – kailangan umpisahan natin ito at kahit wala na tayo rito, nasa lagay na ‘yan na tuloy-tuloy na ‘yan. Kailangan nang talagang tapusin.”
(We all concentrated on what’s important. We needed to start on these things right away because once that starts, things will follow. So we need to really finish those first.)
On the price of goods, and his 2022 campaign promise to sell rice at just P20/kilo, the President said:
Marcos: Kung kaya niyo pa lang gawin, ba’t ‘di niyo ginawa noong 2022 o noong 2023?
Dahil hindi namin – noong 2022, 2023, 2000 – hindi pa namin kayang gawin. Bakit?
Ang key diyan ‘yung production. Kaya panay ang patayo namin ng irrigation. Ang dami naming dam na ginawa. Ang dami na naming pinamigay na makinarya.
2023 ang ani ng palay sa Pilipinas, pinakamataas sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas. Nalampasan pa ‘yun noong 2024. Kaya sa production, dahan-dahan inaalalay natin.
Bakit ngayon lang na tayo nagbibigay ng tulong sa produksyon?
Taberna: Opo.
Marcos: Dahil ang Pilipinas, ang mga opisyal nai-spoiled. Basta’t import lang nang import. Tapos ‘yung importation niyan illegal and legal.
Taberna: Opo.
Marcos: Ang katotohanan, ang nakita namin ang pang-control doon sa presyo ng bigas ay ang smuggled na bigas. Kaya nagho-hoard.
On criminality, and perception that crime was on the uptick, Marcos said he had already ordered the interior department and police to increase police visibility, and finally institute a unified hotline to report crime and emergencies.
Police visibility was also Marcos’ answer to perceptions that drug use was on the rise, even as he insisted that they’d focused on nabbing the syndicates that were running illegal drug operations.
“Ngayon, mag-focus ulit tayo doon sa small time…. Hindi namin ititigil ‘yung mga operation,” he said. (We’ll shift focus against to small time drug operations. We won’t stop these operations.)
On dealing with corruption in the administration, Marcos insisted that they had been weeding out the corrupt — but did not make a big splash of it.
Reacting to Taberna’s comment that people were “lusting for blood” in kicking out Cabinet officials who were not performing, Marcos said: “Baka mangyari ‘yan. Dito nga sa ginagawa naming performance review. Iyon ang warning ko sa kanila and that’s what – that’s what I – we will have to look at again.”
(That might happen. In our performance review, that’s my warning to them.)
“Kung talagang may nagkukulang o corrupt, eh kung talagang masyadong mabigat ‘yung kanilang kasalanan, eh kasuhan na namin,” he added.
(If they really fell sort or are corrupt, and if what they did merits it, we will file cases.)
Why the shift? Why now?
Marcos, three years into his presidency, has not been the most available to the media. Chance interviews on the sidelines of his events are not always guaranteed and often, the President avoids interviews at the height of controversies, especially when they’re of the partisan politics kind.
In his first year, the Presidential Communications Office promised a regular roundtable with the President with the different “clusters” of the Malacañang Press Corps — television, print, online, and radio. Only the TV roundtable pushed through, and only amid backlash over a trip to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.
Lengthy media sit-downs have also been few and far apart.
So why would Marcos speak for 30 minutes? First, Taberna is a personality whom the President is comfortable with. Taberna has interviewed his wife, the First Lady, before — even as that interview also sparked controversy over her pronouncements on Vice President Sara Duterte.
Marcos’ latest foray into a new form of media is a soft — or hard — reset after a devastating loss in the 2025 elections. His Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, after all, got less than half of 12 available seats in the midterms.
Two parts of the Q&A, prompted solely by Taberna, are telling. Asked if he wanted to be “feared or respected,” Marcos said: “I want to be respected but maybe fear is better.”
Taberna also asked him, albeit fairly indirectly, about the administration’s tiff with the Duterte clan, with whom he was once allies with. Marcos said he would have wanted to reconcile with the Dutertes.
“Oo. Ako, ayaw ko ng gulo. Gusto ko makasundo sa lahat ng tao. Mas maganda. Marami na akong kaaway at hindi ko kailangan ng kaaway. Kailangan ko kaibigan. Kagaya ng sabi ko sa’yo, pagka… Hindi ko na… Magko-confess ako dito… Ewan ko. Kahit – hangga’t maaari, ako, ang habol ko ay ‘yung stability, peaceful para magawa namin ‘yung trabaho namin. Kaya ako lagi nga akong bukas sa ganyan,” said Marcos.
(Yes. I don’t want to pick a fight. I want everyone to get along. That’s better. I already have a lot of enemies and I don’t need any more enemies. I need friends. I’ll confess to you know. I don’t know. As much as possible, I want stability, peace so we can do our job. That’s why I’m open to this.)
A Cabinet official that Rappler spoke to days after the May 12 elections said Marcos had told them to focus on their timelines and deadlines in the remaining three years of his term.
His allies, including Alyansa campaign manager Toby Tiangco, have also either dropped hints of being against the House’s impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte — echoing Marcos’ own attempt to distance himself from the actions of his House allies.
“Pronouncements will be made in the coming weeks,” said one official. Marcos is also expected, as he is every year, to lay out a roadmap during his State of the Nation Address.
Will turning a podcast into his bully pulpit work for Marcos? Or will — as Taberna himself pointed out at least twice — Marcos be “too nice” (mabait) even in his last three years? Or is the descent to a lame duck presidency inevitable? – Rappler.com
