Alliances for convenience

EDITORIAL

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11/22/2009

The recent shifts in political alliances clearly show the weak, if not non-existent ideological bonds in the current crop of electoral parties.

While the current political system strives to hew itself to the American model, local politicians have not developed strong adherence to party loyalties and the main determinant is mostly the party’s capability, by hook or by crook, to deliver victory among its members.

The situation exists despite the existence of two old parties, the Liberal Party (LP) and the Nacionalista Party (NP), both of which both existed almost since the Americans granted the government self-determination.

While both have successfully bred most of the country’s political leaders, all of the elected presidents after former President Ferdinand Marcos were never from either parties.

The weak pull of the established parties primarily rests on the fact that those aspiring for a six-year presidency or vice presidency mostly do not have the inclination to respect party consensus.

The caucus system, which binds the two political monoliths in the US — the Democrat and Republican parties — was never a compelling factor for those with presidential ambitions.

Those who fail to make it in the caucus, just bolt the party and form a new one for a personal agenda.

Another problem for the cracks in political parties, apart from bolting for one’s personal agenda, is that too many who want to run for the top, or the second top post, really have little to lose, if at all.

In the case of today’s presidentiables, many of them who lose the race, still have a Senate seat waiting for them.

But there is still the problem of the presidential bet having no real political party, by way of a political machine.

The presidentiable then forms a coalition with usually money and resources as enticement to draw in allies.

What results is a hodge-podge of interests in an interim alliance such as the Lakas-Kampi-CMD which by its name alone shows its unwieldy character.

The problem does not just lie, however, on the multi-party character of the local political system but more on the maturity of the aspirations of those seeking a seat of leadership.

Thus, the choice among voters usually is reduced to picking the least of evils since the public has long surrendered to the notion that all Filipino politicians are there for the money.

The voters in turn, due to the lack of a personality who can inspire, go for the candidate most visible in media who evidently will be the one with the most money.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) that supposedly is the body that regulates political campaigns, does not offer any help to ease the disorientation by largely taking a blind eye on obvious breaches of the electoral code.

The current realignments are just reinforcing such beliefs that those with money are the ones that have the best chances of winning and by picking those with credible platforms but belonging to a party with meager resources would be a waste of the ballot.

The appeals of political parties to examine their platforms, thus, are largely facetious pitches that does not serve anything by way of differentiating candidates and also encourage loyalties among its members.

A jump in the evolution of the country’s political landscape thus rests on the public taking cognizance of platforms and parties being binded by ideological visions.

There were certain flickers of hope toward such a transformation particularly when President Joseph Estrada overwhelmigly won the presidency against more moneyed opponents in the 1998 elections and recent crop of personalities who were to able inspire votes, despite spending little for their campaigns.

The ease at which jumping jacks shift parties as the campaign period nears only reinforces the malignant blight of transactional politics that Gloria introduced and nurtured during her near nine years of presidency.

Ending Gloria’s reign will only be complete if she goes with her corrupt legacy.

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