Called “Umbagang Pilipinas”, the effigy created by rallyists for the third State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. depicted the brewing rivalry between the president and the vice president.
Its name is a jab at the administration’s “Bagong Pilipinas” branding.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) wanted to call attention to the plight of Filipinos swept under the supposed feud between Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte.
Among the highlighted issues were the rising prices of goods, job insecurity and meager wages.
The effigy was part of the rally along Commonwealth Avenue during the president’s SONA on July 22.
Effigy for the day. Two political dynasties and puppets of foreign powers slug it out while our people suffer. #PeoplesSONA2024 #SONA2024 pic.twitter.com/qxFgQ4UB5l
— Teddy Casiño (@teddycasino) July 22, 2024
The animated caricatures of the national leaders also donned American and Chinese flags “symbolizing the puppetry of the country’s top two officials to foreign powers”.
Burning of an effigy is a long-standing tradition to express multi-sectoral discontent.
Alongside the president’s SONA, these artistic visualizations mirror the current state of the nation.
Duterte earlier announced that she would not watch the president’s address.
“The Vice President will not watch the SONA on TV or gadgets,” the Office of the Vice President (OVP) said in a statement.
She was said to be in Bohol to “empathize with the Boholanos for the death of their Vice Governor.”
Earlier, Duterte also announced her absence at the SONA, stating she was the “designated survivor”.
READ: Designated what? Sara Duterte’s remark on SONA 2024 attendance references Netflix series
The Marcos-Duterte ticket boasted “unity” during their 2022 election campaign. Later, that tandem showed cracks in certain key issues like charter change and the West Philippine Sea dispute.
