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A lack of organization

EDITORIAL

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10/22/2009

Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Noynoy Aquino may be up in the questionable Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey these early days, but even granting that he maintains that popularity, fueled by the public sympathy over death of his mother, does he, along with his LP, have the organization, not to mention funding, to translate this now popularity into votes come election day?

Thus far, it doesn’t look like Aquino has either at this time, and if he and his political groups don’t start working on this important aspect for a presidential derby, he may just end up a cellar dweller in the race.

But Aquino and his supporters appear to buy the notion that there is no need for a political organization, as they, following Cory Aquino’s way of getting the organization and party groupings’ support, expect to merely inherit whatever the LP and its standard bearer will need for the 2010 presidential race.

It will be recalled that in 1985, with Cory Aquino dead set on becoming the united opposition standard bearer, had no organization to speak of at that time, save for a cluster of politicians. But using her Church allies and the Yellows to put the pressure on then Unido standard bearer Salvador “Doy” Laurel, she ended up being the opposition presidential candidate and virtually inherited the Unido organization of Laurel.

Similarly, Noynoy Aquino was hardly a force to reckon with, within the LP. It was Sen. Mar Roxas who was doing the organization work for the LP. But seeing the opportunity to ride on his mother’s death, Aquino, along with his LP supporters, mainly led by Sen. Kiko Pangilinan who apparently was at odds with Roxas, stepped into the presidential picture, making it clear to Roxas that he wanted to “carry the leadership torch.”

Thus it was that Aquino inherited the Roxas-led LP and whatever groups Roxas had organized and mobilized, preparatory to his bid for the presidency prior to the death of Cory Aquino.

To date, there is hardly any strong political grouping that has thrown its support to the Noynoy-Mar campaign. Here and there, if reports are to be believed, the LP tandem has picked up some politicans, but it is evidently not enough to propel him to the presidency.

But Noynoy and the LP don’t appear to see this as a problem, as they believe that there is somewhere out there, a political machinery, organization and even funding they will be inheriting as they appear convinced that all other opposition presidential bets are going to step aside for Noynoy, due to his high survey ratings.

It is no secret that Noynoy and the LP bigwigs want Joseph Estrada to withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Noynoy as the opposition bet.

If Estrada did, there would be no question that Noynoy would have inherited the Estrada political party support and organization, and Noynoy and his Liberals would have been on easy electoral street.

This did not happen of course, as Estrada was all set yesterday to officially declare his candidacy for the presidency in Tondo, Manila.

Still, the LPs have not lost hope in gaining the support of Estrada, as they seem to believe that the former President will give way to Noynoy when the ratings continue to soar for him.

The only problem with that belief is the fact that the SWS surveys have lost their credibility, as the numbers are obviously being massaged to make it appear that Noynoy’s lead is insurmountable.

There are also reports that Noynoy’s uncle, Peping Cojuangco, is working to have the Nationalist People’s Coalition to support Noynoy, which may prove to be an impossible task as the NPC appears set to field its own presidential tandem.

There is also that danger of the Cory euphoria dying in a month or two and Aquino will have to start campaigning on his own steam, which means disclosing his platform and his plans for his government, of which many suspect he has none.

Noynoy Aquino may have the elite civil society, including the Makati businessmen with him, but they have never been able to put anyone in Malacañang through the ballot — including Corazon Aquino and Gloria Arroyo, which is why they resort to coups d’ etat to force their will on the sovereign Filipino people.