Shortly after he announced his rejection of his appointment on the chairman emeritus position of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party, former President Fidel Ramos and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Jose de Venecia Jr. issued an invitation to a reunion of all original members of Lakas. Obviously, the coming reunion is intended to be a show of force in support to the Ramos-De Venecia petition for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to declare null and void the recent merger of Lakas-CMD and Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s personal party.
Will the "originals" respond positively to the invitation? Will they come in droves to reaffirm their oath of fealty and full support to Lakas? They might, but I don’t. So, I, for one, have neither an intention nor a desire to attend the reunion.
The truth of the matter is that Lakas is a party that has lost its way. It forgot its mission. Indeed, what Lakas-CMD has become is a far, far cry from the party — then known as the Lakas Tao party — that announced its birth on Jan. 6, 1992 at the Club Filipino. Today’s Lakas is a caricature — a bad one, at that — of its 1992 forerunner. At the time Gloria Arroyo moved into Malacañang, it was the biggest party in both chambers of Congress. Its secretary-general was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and its chairman emeritus was Fidel Ramos, who, despite being several years out of the presidency, still wielded some influence in the corridors of power. But its ranks were slowly diminished as a result of poaching by Kampi and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) of Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. The smell of swill in the congressional trough was just too strong for many congressmen, governors and mayors to resist.
What will Fidel Ramos and Joe de V say to the Lakas "originals" who will come to the reunion? Will they tell the remaining Lakas faithful that their party has been true to the ideals for whose attainment the party was established? Will Ramos and De Venecia speak of Lakas-CMD’s having enhanced good governance in this country? Will they be able to ask the "originals," in all sincerity, to redouble the efforts that the party has steadfastly exerted toward nation-building and societal strengthening?
They cannot. The two Lakas leaders have given their party the wrong directions over the years. As result, as it approaches its 18th birthday, Lakas-CMD is a party gone astray.
Contrary to the tenets of the philosophy of the international political movement with which Lakas chose to ally itself — Christian Democracy — Lakas has not conducted itself in either a democratic or a Christian manner. The party, which to a large extent represented a reaction to the trapo politics of former Speaker Ramon Mitra and his Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), has operated since its Ramos-era heyday very much like a business-as-usual political machine. Ramos and De Venecia — especially the latter — became masters of the art of pork barrel dispensation. Trapo politics never stopped.
One reason for true-blue Lakas Tao originals not to want to come to the party’s reunion will be the memory of Fidel Ramos’ response to the widespread clamor for the resignation of Gloria Arroyo in the wake of the discovery of the "Hello Garci" tapes. Instead of joining former President Cory Aquino, Senate President Franklin Drilon and the "Hyatt 10" high-rank government officials in asking Gloria Arroyo to step down, Fidel Ramos threw his support to "Garci" Garcillano’s cellphone-pal. Ramos’ sidekick Joe de V. quickly followed suit. Was this the kind of conduct that the Lakas "originals" would expected of Ramos in 1992?
De Venecia’s offenses against the Filipino people are no less grave. The former Speaker sports that hound dog look these days, but, back in the days when he was riding high as Speaker and he and she were hunky-dory, Joe de V engineered the dismissal of three perfectly good impeachment complaints against Gloria Arroyo. To the decent and God-fearing "originals" that was not the work of a bearer of the Lakas Tao torch.
Truth to tell, Lakas-CMD is in a pathetic state. Its two principal founders Ramos and De Venecia, have been effectively marginalized by Mrs. Arroyo, and two other leading "originals," Eduardo Ermita and Gabriel Claudio Jr., have been co-opted by her. Many other "originals" either are exploring other 2010 options — the best sources of campaign financing, of which Lakas has title to offer — or are no longer in office. The party still doesn’t have a strong candidate for President.
Invitation to a reunion of Lakas "originals"? No, thanks. I don’t attend affairs that have the smell of decay and disintegration.
(My e-mail address is rudy_v_romero@yahoo.com)
