I HAVE been accused by Duterte loyalists, both of the ex-president and the incumbent vice president, of being a blind apologist of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Someone even alleged that among political analysts and columnists, I am the only one who is utterly biased and one-sided. This is simply laughable since we all know that from among their ranks come bloggers, vloggers, columnists and analysts, both real and self-proclaimed, whose expertise is in being biased and one-sided.

These people expect me to be like them and demand that I also criticize the president blindly. In fact, if only they cared to do research, they would know that I do not spare the president from criticism. However, I criticize not simply because I want to appear neutral or because I should adhere to some numerical rule of thumb. I criticize when it is warranted. During the elections, I did not spare the president when I called him out for refusing to apologize to the victims of martial law and for the false entries regarding his academic degrees. I did not even vote for him.