Deflection, Death, and the Architecture of Elite Immunity: The Marcos-Duterte Alliance and the Ethics of Political Survival
Deflection, Death, and the Architecture of Elite Immunity: The Marcos-Duterte Alliance and the Ethics of Political Survival
On September 21, 2025, the streets of Manila and other urban centers became sites of rupture. What began as a coordinated mobilization against corruption in flood control infrastructure—timed to coincide with the anniversary of Martial Law—ended in tragedy. More than 20 individuals lost their lives in what organizers described as a "state-enabled catastrophe": stampedes, violent dispersals, and unregulated crowd control measures marked the culmination of a civic outcry that had long been ignored. This essay situates the September 21 deaths within the broader architecture of elite deflection, arguing that the Marcos-Duterte alliance has weaponized spectacle, procedural sabotage, and tactical ambiguity to preserve power while externalizing its costs onto the public.
From "Uniteam" to Strategic Containment
The Marcos-Duterte alliance, once branded as a symbol of national unity, now functions as a containment strategy. Vice President Sara Duterte's role has shifted from co-governor to political buffer—absorbing criticism, scandal, and institutional scrutiny that might otherwise target President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his inner circle. The essay “SARA: BBM's Insurance Policy and Punching Bag” rightly identifies this dynamic: Duterte is not merely a partner in governance but a sacrificial figure whose visibility is instrumentalized to deflect attention from systemic rot.
This became evident during the confidential funds controversy of 2022-2023. Duterte's office received its allocation less than 20 days before the fiscal year's end, forcing rapid liquidation to avoid COA sanctions. Critics seized on the 11-day expenditure window to brand her wasteful, ignoring the procedural constraints that necessitated such spending. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives—under Speaker Martin Romualdez—quietly increased its budget across three consecutive years, with Marcos signing off each time. The juxtaposition—Duterte's vilification versus Congress's unchecked budget expansion—reveals a choreography of distraction: one figure absorbs the blows, while the machinery of elite enrichment proceeds unimpeded.
September 21: The Spectacle Turns Lethal
The September 21 mobilizations were not symbolic gestures but urgent interventions. Protesters demanded accountability for the ₱1.9 trillion allegedly lost to corruption in flood control projects over the past 15 years. The choice of date—marking the declaration of Martial Law—was deliberate, invoking a lineage of state violence and civic resistance. But the state's response was not commemorative; it was suppressive.
At Ayala Bridge near Malacañang, masked provocateurs unaffiliated with the main protest groups clashed with police, triggering chaos. A trailer truck was set ablaze. Debris was hurled. In the ensuing panic, more than 20 individuals died—some crushed in stampedes, others caught in violent dispersals. The Philippine National Police reported over 130 injuries among officers, while civil society groups mourned the loss of life with quiet rage.
These deaths are not accidental. They are the predictable outcome of a political system that treats dissent as threat and spectacle as governance. The administration's failure to ensure safe protest conditions—despite prior warnings from organizers and observers—reflects a deeper logic of abandonment. The tragedy of September 21 is not logistical; it is structural. It reveals the extent to which the state externalizes its crises onto the bodies of its citizens.
Issue Rerouting and the Ethics of Evasion
In the aftermath of the protests, the administration deployed a familiar tactic: issue rerouting. Blame was redirected towards the Duterte administration, Davao City, and even the protesters themselves. Marcos and his allies positioned themselves as reformers who "discovered" the flood control anomalies, despite being their architects. The president's repeated approval of inflated congressional budgets, his silence on ghost projects, and his refusal to veto corrupt allocations implicate him directly in the crisis.
This tactic is not new. It is a form of elite immunity sustained by media complicity, bureaucratic opacity, and public fatigue. The deaths of September 21 mark the point at which this immunity becomes intolerable. They demand not just reform but reckoning.
Tactical Paralysis and the Opposition's Dilemma
The opposition, particularly the so-called "Kakampinks," faces a strategic impasse. Despite their disdain for Marcos, they hesitate to call for his resignation. Two reasons emerge: first, the tactical alliance between Marcos and Duterte remains intact; second, the opposition fears that Duterte's removal would not result in a leadership transition favorable to their interests. Marcos, aware of this dynamic, refuses to fully commit to Duterte's impeachment. He understands that her presence protects him from becoming the opposition's primary target.
This ambiguity creates internal conflict within the opposition. The longer Duterte remains, the more the Kakampinks appear complicit in Marcos' governance. The essay's closing line—“good luck”—is not flippant but diagnostic. It names the futility of resistance that refuses to confront its own contradictions.
Memory as Resistance, Grief as Archive
The deaths of September 21 must not be reduced to collateral damage. They are civic ruptures—interruptions in the nation's democratic fabric that demand memorialization. In a political culture that thrives on distraction, memory becomes resistance. The essay's call to “ask the right questions” is a demand for civic literacy: interrogate not just personalities but procedures, not just scandals but structures.
This requires a shift in analytical posture. To write about corruption without naming its casualties is to sanitize its violence. To analyze deflection without acknowledging its human cost is to collude in its erasure. This essay insists that critique must be embodied, grief-informed, and ethically grounded.
Conclusion: Toward Structural Justice, Beyond Spectacle
The Marcos-Duterte alliance is not merely a political partnership but a mechanism of elite preservation. Through budgetary maneuvers, media manipulation, and tactical ambiguity, the administration redirects attention from systemic corruption to personalized scandal. The events of September 21 exposed the fatal consequences of this strategy. More than 20 lives were lost not because of isolated violence but because of a political system that treats dissent as disposable.
This analysis demands more than reform. It demands structural justice. The challenge is not merely to expose scandal but to dismantle the architecture of deflection itself. The deaths of September 21 must become the foundation of a new civic covenant—one that refuses distraction, demands accountability, and honors the lives lost in the struggle for truth.
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Amiel Gerald A. Roldan: a multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, academic writing, and trauma-informed mythmaking. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and speculative cosmology, and in bridging creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical collaboration.
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