The drone of politicians’ voices in the TV set near my work station was interrupted Friday night by the grating voice of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos answering a GMA 7 reporter’s question on who she thinks should lead the country.

Imee, acting like a teenager being asked to divulge which F4 member she had the biggest crush on, said “Swanie.” My high school clique would have described the way she answered the question as “pa-demure.” Imee later said she was “Susan-powered.”

Are these our country’s only choices? Are we limited to the scandal-ridden Arroyo administration and the scandal-ridden Estrada camp trying to push Susan Roces as option?

Imee is by no means just an eye candy in politics. She sponsored several sensible legislations in the House of Representatives. But Imee, with the way she answered the question on leadership change, is telling people it’s a matter of merely changing the cast of characters in government. She was still peddling the idea of a single person to haul us off this mess we are in. From Ferdie to Cory to FVR to Erap to Gloria and now to Swanie.

This is the same Imee Marcos whose father declared Martial Law in the Philippines. It was a Martial Law I was too young to fear but had me singing a mondegreen for years. It isn’t technically a mondegreen because I sang the song exactly as I had heard it: “Don’t cry for me Argentina, the truth is I never loved you…….for all my millions.”

Until high school, that was what I though the lyrics were to the song. I never thought that the people I heard it from were singing it to ridicule Imelda Marcos-who is said to hate the idea of being compared to Eva Peron.

Manuel L. Quezon III posted this in his blog:

Imee Marcos: Will we tolerate liars and thieves?
The crowd: No!

MLQ’s comment: So� Well� Make of that situation at Ayala Avenue yourself.

Look at the cast of characters trying to whip up another uprising: Jayvee and Jinggoy Estrada, former Marcos information minister Kit Tatad, former senator Tito Sotto.

During the same interview, you could hear “Erap” chants while Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño was talking to the reporter. Is Bayan Muna now pushing for former president Joseph Estrada’s return to government?

According to its website, Bayan Muna wants a unity government composed of representatives from different sectors, including the mainstream political opposition. But since it is allying itself with the Erap political opposition, does it share their conviction that Joseph Estrada should be returned to power?

Take note that Estrada insists he’s still the president. He said in his website: “Again, a clarification: I do not need to run for the presidency again as I remain the rightful president of the Philippines. The constitutional clock on my presidency has not run out: I have served only two and a half years of the six years allotted to me as clearly stated in the Philippine constitution. Therefore, I still have three and a half years to serve.”

So what are our choices? Gloria who has squandered what had been a golden opportunity to turn this country around and assure her place in the history books? Imee Marcos� Swanie and her showbiz gang and the Erap camp? Ex-generals with delusions of grandeur?

Noli de Castro taking over as president? Can he take over considering the positioning by members of the power hungry Erap camp? A military junta? A caretaker government composed of self-appointed people with vanguard party complex?