FIRING LINE: No-el and the sibling feud 

FIRING LINE: No-el and the sibling feud 

By Robert B. Roque Jr. | June 2, 2026

Using her standing in the Senate, presidential sister Imee Marcos held a political grenade at her brother. She hurls more of a wild accusation than a warning on a supposed “No-el” or no-election scenario in 2028.

The thing is — despite her controversial video presentation and claims of shadowy political operations working behind the scenes — there is no evidence that such a plan exists. The Commission on Elections has categorically dismissed the tsismis mongered in the halls of the Senate, no less.

I still recall Imee, in her younger days, fiddling with her make-believe artista persona. But portraying herself as a whistle-blower in Congress? Not the acting the public would buy.

Of course, the Duterte side of the court would hail this latest fake news as proof of her courage for taking on her own brother’s administration. That’s just bad acting meeting a fanatical public that forever suspends disbelief that corruption, EJKs, and abuse of power never happened in the past administration.

Again, and most sadly, the stage where this ridiculous zarzuela keeps on repeating itself for the worse is the Senate.

For once, President Bongbong Marcos blurted out what decent Filipinos actually felt inside — he said he was watching the Senate “with horror.”

Horror is exactly the word. Not because some sinister plot to cancel elections has been uncovered. But because a Chamber once envisioned as the nation’s sober second voice has become a political cesspool for conspiracy theories, deadbeat drama, and sickening dynastic angles masquerading as public service.

For once, BBM spoke against his sister, bluntly calling out her allegations for what they are: fake news. If a staff member indeed fed her such garbage, as he suggested, then somebody deserves to be fired.

Imee’s break from her brother has been playing out for a couple of years now, beginning with her policy sniping over the Maharlika Fund, free-trade push with Southeast Asia, several top-post appointments, etc. By the time she walked out of her brother’s political tent and into Sara Duterte’s, things had gotten as ugly as the Duterte brand of politics. She started publicly humiliating her “little brother”— a reference lesser and lesser a term of endearment.

I get to wonder, is this still Imee “in-character” for a role she intends to play out for the long haul, or at least for as long as she can protect the Marcos dynasty’s survival beyond 2028?

Either way, the embarrassment belongs not just to Imee or Bongbong or to the Marcos brand, but to the institutions they lead. The Senate, for one, increasingly looks less like the august chamber and more like a badly written reality show funded by taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

As for Bongbong, he seems content playing the kinder Marcos in the final act of his presidency — correcting the facts while shielding the sister, dismissing the allegation while protecting the bloodline.

So, to me, all this No-el noise is not a genuine threat and just a manufactured controversy designed to test the waters, stir paranoia, and keep the political class at the center of the national conversation. Fat chance! Come 2028, Filipinos will see this drama for what it is, and hopefully be far less crazy in voting than the many politicians on the ballot.

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