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BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
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Thursday, December 29, 2016
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THE RESIGNATION of Vice President Leni Robredo, the recognized head of the Liberal Party (LP), would galvanize the Liberal Party, signal its break from the ruling coalition and strengthen the opposition, right?
Think again.
Robredo’s resignation from her Cabinet position under the Duterte administration hardly created a ripple. And far from galvanizing the Liberal Party, the resignation even exposed its lack of unity. While some party stalwarts in the House of Representatives, especially Albay 1st District’s Rep. Edcel Lagman and Ifugao’s Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr. are calling for the LP to bolt the majority coalition, their counterparts in the Senate, especially acting LP president Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Sen. Bam Aquino, the former president Benigno Aquino III’s cousin, opted to stay with the majority.
Why?
Historically political parties in the Philippine have never been strong and their differences never pronounced. Strictly speaking we could not talk of distinct party lines in describing the different political parties in the country. What we have is personality politics. Political parties revolve around politicians who are elected or have greater chances of being elected to high positions in government, especially the presidency.
Usually, the newly elected president’s political party becomes the majority, even if it was a small one before the elections. In fact, all elected presidents, after the Marcos dictatorship, came from small political parties. Their ranks bloated after their candidate for president won. Balimbings or turncoats are aplenty in Philippine politics.
Why?
Politicians scramble for their share in the spoils and perks of power: Cabinet positions, powerful committee chairmanships in Congress, juicy board memberships in government-owned and -controlled corporations, pork barrel funds, among others. These are the things that members of the ruling coalition share and likewise, these are what members are supposed to give up if and when they bolt the ruling coalition. And this doesn’t usually happen. In the rare times that a political party tried to break from the ruling coalition, it caused a split within the party. That happened in more recent times with the LP during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
When Sen. Franklin Drilon and those close to him announced its break with the ruling coalition under then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the LP was split into two. While Drilon became part of the opposition, another LP stalwart Sen. Francis Pangilinan became instrumental in blocking attempts to impeach the president.
This also happens even among party-list groups. When a former representative of party-list group Akbayan bolted the Aquino ruling coalition, his party left him in the cold. Other party-list groups are likewise plagued by dissensions, even before it gets involved in political realignments, in the mad scramble for who gets the top nominations.
To its credit, it is only the Makabayan coalition that is able to move as one.
When it bolted the majority under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, it moved as one bloc.
Now, would the LP risk another split? I don’t think so.
When Drilon and company bolted the majority coalition, there was even a popular clamor to do so and still it split the party. There is more reason now for the party not to bolt out because there is no popular clamor against the administration of President Duterte.
Sure, there is popular clamor against the burial of the late dictator Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and the Duterte administration was party to it. But to say that this issue could galvanize opposition against the administration and Robredo’s resignation could rally the people around her is still a bit of a stretch.
The Duterte administration still has more than five years to go and the early resignation of Robredo could even hurt the LP more because it could push her out of the political limelight.
As of now there are roughly three opposition voices: Rep. Edcel Lagman and senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima. But Rep. Lagman hardly causes a stir; Trillanes is not too credible; and de Lima is busy defending herself.
So what strong opposition are we talking about? It has never happened before among traditional political parties, it is highly unlikely to happen now.
It is only the Left, represented by the Makabayan coalition, which really functioned as a solid opposition in the past. And it is only a popular movement against an incumbent administration that has pushed traditional politicians to bolt the ruling coalition, and this usually happens at the last minute. Take it from the veteran trapo who has weathered a strong political storm, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
It is highly unlikely to happen at this juncture. First of all, the LP is not too popular, after six bungling years of the Aquino administration, and Leni Robredo still does not have a strong following. While on the other side, President Duterte is still very popular.
So to think that Robredo’s resignation could engender a strong opposition party is wishful thinking. (Bulatlat.com)
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