ONE OF my favorite and perhaps funniest jokes of the late cartoonist and social commentator, Nonoy Marcelo, went like this: Tanong: Bakit nakayuko lagi maglakad ang biik? Sagot: Nahihiya siya kasi nanay niya, baboy!

(Why does the piglet walk with his head bowed? Answer: He's ashamed because his mother's a pig!)

The joke crossed my mind as I recounted the key events of the efforts to recover the billions of dollars of money and assets that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and family spirited away and to this day their and unapologetic children Bongbong and Imee continue to deny despite clear evidence documented in the halls of justice and legislature here and in different parts of the world.

Sure, their organized campaign to revise history in the minds and perception of many Filipinos – especially young impressionable ones – has resulted in a major lead in a number of election surveys. But what really is the true impact of a Marcos win to the whole country and its people?

Ruben Carranza, former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (tasked to go after the Marcos hidden ill-gotten wealth) has pointed out that the Marcoses have multiple rulings against them here and abroad. This includes a 1995 case which had a contempt of court judgment against Bongbong Marcos himself and which was affirmed in 2012 and extended until 2031. Bongbong has been ordered to pay over US$356 Million as penalty. If unsettled, he risks being dragged again to court or even jail. This is why Bongbong has not been back to the US since 2005.

The irony is not lost on a few pundits and observers in the country. Just look at some of the most recent headlines on Bongbong's presidential election bid:
Washington Post: How the Philippines' brutal history is being whitewashed for voters

Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABCNews): The Philippines may vote Bongbong Marcos into office even though his parents stole billions from the country

The Standard: Filipinos fall for fake history

New York Times: Younger Marcos Pursues Presidency by Denying Family Infamy

And those are just a few samples of what's being published worldwide.

Even more absurd is that the Marcos trolls and campaigners have been peddling the tale that all these stories of the billions of dollars of Marcos' hidden wealth are true and will actually benefit their followers because it will be distributed to them if they make Bongbong win, to the tune of at least a million each.

I must confess that at one point in my professional career I took a sip of Bongbong Marcos' Kool Aid, helping in great measure to bring him to the Senate in 2010. The public relations and communications agency I helped run was engaged by Bongbong for his brand and image development, as well as provide him access to mainstream media.

In the tail end of Bongbong's stint as Ilocos Second District representative in the 2007 to 2010 congress we created a strategy to bring him to the national stage and gun for higher office. We aided in the preparation of his sponsorship of the UNCLOS law ( the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities.). It had a tight deadline for submission coming up and without it the country would have been left behind the rest of the world.

The impact of the passage of the law made it a great opportunity to project Bongbong as a significant national political figure, perfect for his Senate run. The push was so successful that Mark Cojuangco, Pangasinan congressman and close Marcos associate, wanted to partner with Bongbong to push his own agenda to reopen the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. But Bongbong was advised against it because it would distract attention for the single high impact message of the UNCLOS for his coming Senate campaign.

When Bongbong's Senate campaign was launched, my agency went straight to work: from imaging work with the right hairstyle, apparel, photo and video sessions as well as drafting and fielding speeches and statements.

As with my agency's major clients, I was personally on top of all these activities. At one point I briefly paused to assess what I was doing, after all I started my career in communications as a journalist in the 1980s for Mr&Ms Special Edition to the Philippine Inquirer all the way to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I dug into the atrocities and political cases of the Marcos dictatorship and coverage of the parliament of the streets and the trial of the assassination of Benigno Aquino. I dogged Ferdinand Marcos during his snap elections, all the way to the family's escape from Malacañang during the 1986 revolution, to the entry of Cory Aquino and the creation of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

So in one of our talks in the early days of my agency's engagement I asked Bongbong: “I assume you vetted me and know of my background.”

Bongbong had that characteristic smirk and waved off what I had said: “Yes, of course.”

And that was that.

I concluded to myself that I was providing a professional service like a lawyer, and that as those professionals said “everybody deserves the best defense.”

So I put together a substantial package of images and words that covered the universal health care in Ilocos when he was governor, how he loved kitchen duties and having his children go to school from their seaside home, how he would wind down from the hectic day for governance by playing the saxophone to the sound of rolling waves, and, of course, the sight of the massive windmills and the power it generated for the province and the country.

I was building on this concept of “character” – how one thinks, acts and behaves – and how he had it as a quality needed for his position as Senator.

Because it was way before the advent of social media and rampant internet access, a big part of my work was with mainstream media relations. I first arranged for Bongbong to have lunch with a handful of journalists and editors – hard-hitting and fiercely independent ones – in Makati. At the back of my mind I was setting him up for a test, hoping that he would falter and would give me a reason to pull back my efforts.

The journos were close friends, so to lessen the distraction from Bongbong I did not join them in the function room and opted to have my lunch at a table on the regular dining area of the restaurant. To my surprise the luncheon was a success, with my friends mostly telling me that they were impressed as he was articulate, had a grasp of the issues of the day, and was modest and unassuming.

For the rest of the campaign period I would arrange more media sorties for him and it would always leave a similar mark – a real charm offensive. There were a couple of times that I would be let down because of some last minute changes in schedule, like the time I arranged for him to be in a breakfast media forum. The forum organizers – mostly from the congressional press corps – hesitated to make the guest booking and warned me early on to be wary of Bongbong. “Indianero yon,” they chimed.

But I was so sure of myself since early on his staff and bodyguard were coordinating details of the forum like location and conditions. But on that morning the organizers and I waited two hours before I got the call from him on my mobile phone, sounding like he just crawled out of bed, mumbling: “Mom (Imelda) called for a family meeting so I can't make it there.”

Good thing I had the budget for the restaurant to serve breakfast for everybody in attendance. But I knew that it was not enough to placate newsmen who depended on such events to fill their news quotas.

I likewise pulled strings with some local politicians to host his visits to their territories. He had that rockstar appeal to people and it was not hard to get mayors and congressmen to have him campaign in their areas. But one thing that struck me was the visible discomfort with the crowds that were fawning all over him. One local politician even called me to say: “O, had Bongbong go around here, okay?” I thanked him profusely, but he followed up: “But why does he back up and cringe when the people try to touch him? It's pretty obvious when you see it.”

I felt these were early signs of his true character, signs of which slowly became more apparent as time went on to his campaign, to his victory and finally holding office in the Senate. Simply put, I learned a more succinct definition of this word “character”: “How one thinks, acts and behaves WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING.”

And now the whole world is at a loss in describing this phenomenon where a man so obviously lacking in character is swaying a nation towards his favor.

It is as if dictator Ferdinand Marcos had risen from the grave – in the once venerable Libingan ng mga Bayani which was desecrated by the early political sashaying of Rodrigo Duterte – to the anthem of his “Ako ay Pilipino Movement,” (I am a Pilipino) where he tried to instill a sense of false pride in us with lyrics“may dugong Maharlikha” (I have royal blood) and “taas noo kahit kanino” (My head held high against anyone).

But let's set aside all these that were events of decades past, and that, perhaps assume as well that the sins of the father (and mother) are not the sins of the son.

Here and now, there is still that P203 billion in unsettled taxes that the son has deprived the people. My lawyer has pointed out to me that, even if Bongbong Marcos is able to wiggle his way out to a negotiated tax liability, there is still the matter of “moral turpitude” which goes to Bongbong's total lack of character to effectively lead this country.

As my lawyer emphasized: “In the case entitled Remigio Zari vs. Diosdado Flores (AM No. P-1356, Nov 21, 1979), the Supreme Court declared: 'MORAL TURPITUDE has been defined as including any act done contrary to justice, honesty, modesty or good morals (Bouvier's Law Dictionary). Some of the particular crimes which have been held to involve moral turpitude are xxx EVASION OF INCOME TAX xxx".

Yes, there is a great possibility that a Bongbong Marcos victory in the May 9, 2022 elections puts us at risk of ineffective governance, hamstrung by a citizenry and a world stunned by disbelief and incredulity, where our anthem shall become “Ako ay Pilipino... naka yuko kahit kanino...”

But what do I know?