logo
Marcos orders Cabinet resignations after midterm polls signal weakened mandate

Marcos orders Cabinet resignations after midterm polls signal weakened mandate

Straits Times22-05-2025

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr speaks during a campaign rally ahead of the elections in Philippines on May 9. PHOTO: REUTERS
MANILA – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has ordered the resignation of his entire Cabinet, just over a week after less than favourable midterm election results that analysts say weakened his grip on power.
'This is not business as usual,' Mr Marcos said in a statement on May 22. 'The people have spoken, and they expect results – not politics, not excuses.'
Though framed as a managerial reset, Mr Marcos's call for Cabinet resignations comes on the heels of the May 12 midterm polls, which signalled a realignment of political loyalties amid his deepening feud with Vice-President Sara Duterte.
Several of the president's endorsed Senate candidates suffered defeats, while Duterte-aligned figures and independent opposition bets made surprise gains, highlighting fractures within the ruling coalition. The results also raised questions about Mr Marcos' weakened mandate in the last three years of his term that ends in 2028.
The Duterte camp appeared to gain momentum during the campaign season after former president Rodrigo Duterte, father of the vice-president, was arrested on March 11 on crimes against humanity charges tied to an International Criminal Court (ICC) probe into his bloody war on drugs.
Mr Duterte himself won the midterms race for mayor of Davao City in the southern Philippines, a post he held for over two decades before becoming president in 2016. How he will govern while in the ICC's custody in The Hague remains unclear.
Adding fuel to speculation of a deepening rift within the Marcos government, Solicitor-General Menardo Guevarra – who is tasked with representing the government in international legal cases – refused to defend the Philippines before the ICC in Mr Duterte's case.
Mr Guevarra once served as Mr Duterte's justice secretary. His decision has been interpreted by some as a sign of conflicting loyalties within the upper ranks of the Marcos administration.
'This is not about personalities – it's about performance, alignment, and urgency,' Mr Marcos said in his May 22 statement. 'Those who have delivered and continue to deliver will be recognized. But we cannot afford to be complacent. The time for comfort zones is over.'
Following the announcement, the presidential palace assured Filipinos that government services will not be disrupted amid the resignations. The next highest-ranking official in each government agency is expected to serve as acting secretary until Mr Marcos reinstates the Cabinet member or appoints a replacement.
Mr Marcos has not given a timeline for deciding who stays or goes, but said meritocracy and urgency would guide the reshuffle. Several Cabinet officials have already started tendering their resignations at past 9am on May 22, saying they serve at the pleasure of the president and will follow his orders.
While Philippine presidents have called for sweeping Cabinet resignations before, such moves usually followed political crises.
In 1987, then-president Corazon Aquino asked for her Cabinet's resignations to reassert authority after a series of coup attempts, just a year after the bloodless revolution that ousted the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr—father of the incumbent president.
In 2005, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made a similar call in the wake of an election fraud scandal, leading to a major reshuffle in her Cabinet.
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Filipino families flee Northern Irish home after night of anti-immigrant violence
Filipino families flee Northern Irish home after night of anti-immigrant violence

Straits Times

time15 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Filipino families flee Northern Irish home after night of anti-immigrant violence

Mariel Lei Odi, 27, and Jessa Sagarit, 26, whose house was attacked last night and who were evacuated by Ballymena Baptist Church, now living in a caravan, sit on a couch in Cullybackey near Ballymena, following riots in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Michael Asuro, 26, Michael Sancio, 27, Mariel Lei Odi, 27, and Jessa Sagarit 26, whose house was attacked last night and who were evacuated by Ballymena Baptist Church, now living in a caravan, sit on a couch in Cullybackey near Ballymena, following riots in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Michael Asuro, 26, and Michael Sancio, 27, whose house was attacked last night and who were evacuated by Ballymena Baptist Church, now living in a caravan, sit at a table in Cullybackey near Ballymena, following riots in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Michael Asuro, 26, and Michael Sancio, 27, whose house was attacked last night and who were evacuated by Ballymena Baptist Church, now living in a caravan, sit at a table in Cullybackey near Ballymena, following riots in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Michael Sancio, 27, and Mariel Lei Odi, 27, whose house was attacked last night and who were evacuated by Ballymena Baptist Church, now living in a caravan, sit on a couch in Cullybackey near Ballymena, following riots in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Michael Asuro, 26, Michael Sancio, 27, Mariel Lei Odi, 27, Jessa Sagarit 26, whose house was attacked last night and they were evacuated by Ballymena Baptist church, and living now in a caravan, sit on a couch, in Cullybackey near Ballymena, following riots in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland - Michael Sancio, a resident of the Northern Irish town of Ballymena, said he was woken at midnight on Tuesday by masked men banging loudly on windows. Sancio, his wife and daughter, and a couple who share their house - all originally from the Philippines - grabbed their passports and a few belongings and fled their home, sleeping at a friend's house on Tuesday night. They said they plan to stay further outside the town on Wednesday because they feel unsafe at home. Hundreds of masked rioters attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in the town of 30,000 people for a second successive night on Tuesday. Police are investigating the damaging of property as racially-motivated "hate crimes". "Last night I woke up at 12 midnight because I heard some people outside, and I saw in the window, I saw the other guys wearing a black jacket and black pants, and also they're wearing a mask," Sancio, 27, told Reuters on Wednesday. "They started banging the window of our neighbours so I panicked because I have a daughter inside that house." The rioters smashed the windows of the couple's car that was parked outside the house and set it and a bin on fire, said Sancio, who works at a local bus manufacturer. The violence erupted after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena, a town with a relatively large migrant population located 28 miles (45 km) from Belfast. The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, the BBC reported, adding that the lawyer told the court that they denied the charges. Anti-migrant violence is rare in Northern Ireland, which for decades has been more familiar with sectarian violence between resident Catholics and Protestants, including in Ballymena. While a 1998 peace deal largely ended the three decades of bloodshed between Protestants who want to remain under British rule and Catholics favouring a united Ireland, there are still sporadic clashes. 'EXTREME FEAR' Sancio said the masked men told them that they were not targeting Filipino people. Around Ballymena, Filipino residents put stickers of British and Filipino flags on their doors, with messages saying "Filipino lives here" to show they were not Romanian. Union Jack flags regularly fly in the largely pro-British town. Democratic Unionist Party councillor Lawrie Philpott told Reuters that some people who usually don't fly flags had hung Union Jacks outside their homes this week to show they are local. Around 6% of people in Northern Ireland were born abroad, according to government statistics. The foreign-born population in Ballymena is higher, in line with the UK average of 16%, and includes a relatively large Filipino community. Northern Ireland has been broadly welcoming to migrants but that has been tested recently. Violent disorder erupted in Belfast last August as part of anti-immigration protests that swept across several UK cities following the murder of three young girls in northwest England. In the Republic of Ireland, rioting broke out in Dublin in late 2023 during anti-immigrant protests that were triggered by a stabbing attack that left a child seriously injured. Sian Mulholland, a local lawmaker from the Alliance Party, said she was fielding calls from migrant families who in some cases had barricaded themselves into their homes until 0230 on Wednesday morning. "I had been engaging with this community beforehand because the houses they are living in are not fit for purpose. They're (living in) squalor," she told Reuters. Sancio's wife, Mariel Lei Odi, was working a night shift on Tuesday. When she returned home, she was worried about the safety of their two-year-old daughter, she said. "When I (came home to) my husband and chatted about what happened last night: (I said) 'my daughter, my daughter, my daughter. What happened?'," she said. Michael Asuro, who lives in the house with his wife, Jessa Sagarit, said he came to Northern Ireland just under two years ago to seek a better life. Sagarit said she felt traumatised by the events. Police have said they are braced for more violence on Wednesday. As residents boarded up broken windows and doors in Ballymena, the Filipino families wondered about their future and whether they will stay. "We feel extreme fear," Asuro said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Judge says Trump cannot detain Columbia protester Khalil, but delays release order
Judge says Trump cannot detain Columbia protester Khalil, but delays release order

Straits Times

time15 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Judge says Trump cannot detain Columbia protester Khalil, but delays release order

Dr. Noor Abdalla, wife of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who remains in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana after being detained in early March for his involvement in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, holds up a 'Release Mahmoud Khalil Now' protest sticker while posing for a portrait in New York City, U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Angelina Katsanis/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of media about the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York City, U.S., June 1, 2024. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo NEW YORK - A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot use U.S. foreign policy interests to justify its detention of Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, but said his order would not take effect until Friday. Khalil was arrested on March 8 after the State Department revoked his green card under a little-used provision of U.S. immigration law granting the U.S. secretary of state the power to seek the deportation of any noncitizen whose presence in the country is deemed adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests. He has since been held in immigration detention in Louisiana. Khalil was the first known foreign student to be arrested as part of Trump's bid to deport foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests that swept U.S. college campuses after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent military assault. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night
Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night

Riot police members hold their shields while they take position as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Riot police vehicles line up on a road as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Demonstrators gather in front of riot police vehicles as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Riot police members hold their shields while they take position as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland - Public disorder broke out in Northern Ireland for the third successive night on Wednesday with videos and pictures on social media purportedly showing a fire in a leisure centre in the town of Larne after masked youths smashed the building's windows. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the clips. Hundreds of masked rioters attacked police and set homes and cars on fire 33 kilometres (20 miles) west in Ballymena during the previous two nights in what police condemned as "racist thuggery." Thirty-two officers were injured. Riot police and armoured vans blocked roads in Ballymena on Wednesday evening as a crowd of around 200 people watched on. Two rocks were thrown at a police van and one person kicked the bonnet of a police van, a Reuters witness said. The police vans slowly moved towards the crowd who were warned over a loud speaker to disperse immediately as force was "about to be used against violent individuals." The violence initially erupted after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena, located 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Belfast. The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, whose lawyer told the court that they denied the charge, the BBC reported. Police are investigating the damaging of property in Ballymena as racially-motivated hate crimes. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store