The August Twenty-One Movement (Atom) on Wednesday denounced President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his trip to Singapore, where he is expected to attend the Formula 1 Grand Prix, as Filipinos grapple with rising fuel and electricity prices.
In a statement, the group described Marcos as an ‘apathetic, indifferent, carefree’ leader and questioned his decision to make another trip to Singapore to attend a luxury event it said was associated with heavy fuel consumption amid a global energy crisis.
The group said Marcos’ work schedule coinciding with the Singapore F1 event was not the first such instance during his presidency.
‘How hard is it to decline invites like this, especially given the current crisis our people are facing?’ it said.
It recalled how the late President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino, a sports car enthusiast, had always declined invitations from former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to watch F1 races.
‘He felt that such a trip would be purely for recreation, and it was inappropriate to use the influence of his office and public funds for personal matters,’ Aquino’s former executive assistant Raf Ignacio recalled in a Facebook post in October 2022.
According to Atom, Marcos’ insistence on proceeding with the F1 race – despite incurring ‘almost no expense’ from the government – brought back memories of the Marcos family’s lavish lifestyle and insensitivity to the Filipinos’ plight during the final years of his father’s dictatorship.
‘Mr. Marcos Jr., you promised that ‘we will rise again together,’ but instead you have dragged us all down into crises that rival only those caused by your dictator father,’ it said.
Duterte also criticized
Atom also attacked Vice President Sara Duterte, accusing her of being in ‘connivance with an oppressive neighbor’ of the country and of engaging in conduct unbecoming of a national official.
‘Do you really love the Philippines, or do you love more the country that is illegally taking our territory?’ it told Duterte.
The National Security Council said it would investigate reports of foreign financial inflows from Chinese-owned state firms directed toward companies linked to the Duterte family, which emerged during the ongoing impeachment proceedings.
According to Atom, the Philippines was an ‘unlucky nation,’ as it has ‘two of the most problematic and selfish leaders in our history serving in one six-year term.’
The movement also accused both Marcos and Duterte of conspiring against each other in their struggle for political power at the expense of Filipinos.