MAVERICK lawyer, Atty. Larry Gadon, has urged the critics and opponents of Pres. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM) who are mostly living comfortably abroad to just stay where they are now and forget about returning home to the Philippines.

“Don’t come home to the Philippines because we can continue living without you,” Gadon said in a media interview last Sunday.

To drive home his point, Gadon also suggested that those criticizing the Marcos administration while having the best of their time living elsewhere and thus know nothing about the condition here should be declared as ‘PNGs’ (persona non grata).

Gadon also noted that PBBM opponents appear to be re-using the “template” they used against his father, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Senior, by including his wife, First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos in their attacks against the elder Marcos.

Gadon made the observation after First Lady Atty. Liza Marcos Araneta (FLAM) also became a target of harsh commentaries on social media, accusing her of “interfering” with her husband’s administration.

“She is the wife of PBBM; I cannot imagine why she is now being accused of such things. It is simply without logic,” said Gadon.

He pointed out that the First Lady has stood by PBBM “thru thick and thin” during the more than 30 years that the Marcos family had been the subject of black propaganda and vilification before the public and the media after their forcible removal from power in 1986.

Gadon also pointed out that FLAM agreed to marry BBM during the time when the Marcos name is still the subject of negative and harsh commentaries. The two met in 1989 in the United States, during the period when the Marcoses are still considered as ‘pariah’ in the Philippines. They got married in 1993.

Gadon also warned the public not to immediately believe anything they saw or heard, especially on social media, stressing that most vloggers are not accountable to whatever they post.

“While vloggers are also a big help, most of them has no responsibility, no accountability on what they can post,” he observed.

For his part, Atty. Alex Lopez, who has personally known FLAM for over 4 decades since their college days in the ‘70s, believed that the attacks against her would not succeed.

“She is a simple, quiet and decent person. If at all, she is only giving her suggestions but not to destroy her own husband… how can she when they have been through so much together,” Lopez pointed out.

“Tantanan na ninyo (critics) si First Lady dahil hindi kayo magtatagumpay,” Lopez declared.

‘UniTeam,’ the party that won the presidency for BBM and the vice presidency for Sara Duterte during the May 9, 2022 elections, fielded Lopez as its candidate for mayor in Manila.