E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
‘The opposition is no more’
Sunday, 08 19, 2007
I sincerely hope that Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. was just misquoted in saying that. Otherwise, it shows a temerity, an audacity, a foolhardiness, an impetuousity, a gall and effrontery that one could find hard to believe as residing simultaneously in his person.
It betrays his convenient amnesia of the train of events that brought him to where he is now. If recent history bears true, was it not detained President Joseph Estrada of the opposition who was instrumental in including Villar in the senatorial ticket of the Genuine Opposition (GO)? Was it not the GO the vehicle that brought him to the far reaches of the archipelago, where the voters are, to bring the gospel of the opposition? If memory serves me right, was it not the votes of the people sympathetic to the cause of the opposition that elected Villar to the Senate? If the journal of the Senate is to be believed, was it not the votes of Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Chiz Escudero and Alan Cayetano of the opposition who made it possible for him to corral the magic number of votes to get elected Senate president? Without the opposition, would Villar be where he is now?
At the very least, gratitude should appear in Villar’s limited vocabulary, but it does not.
The twenty million Filipinos who voted opposition cannot easily be dismissed as inconsequential in reckoning the truth or untruth of Villar’s claim. They wanted the opposition to dominate the Senate, that is the truth. One man’s claim to the contrary is an empty boast — a treasonous act if you will. The opposition in Pimentel, Legarda, Lacson, Roxas, (J) Estrada, (A) Cayetano, (P) Cayetano, Escudero, Trillanes, Biazon, Madrigal and Aquino is still very much alive.
As in that trademark photo of his (which shows a face unblemished by the creases of time, and a toothpaste ad set of perfect teeth), Villar is flaunting his photo-shopped memory behind the veneer of statesmanship. He takes a neutral posture, to telegraph that he himself is above the fray. But does he? He says there is no administration-opposition dichotomy in the Senate, but does he not realize that his acts and statements betray his leanings toward the administration? He says there is no clear minority-majority demarcation in the Senate, but does he not realize that in dividing the committee assignments, he institutionalized just that? He says the Senate is independent (on whom, may I ask?), but does he not realize that by his sitting at that podium in the Senate, he has become captive to the promises he made to those who elected him?
I will not quibble with the numbers to show who is on Villar’s side or who is on the other side, knowing fully well that 12 votes (not 13, since there are only 23) of the senators from all shades — administration, opposition, independent, minority, majority — can easily be mustered to oust him. The bold and daring statement about the demise of the opposition in the Senate is borne out of his overweening conviction that the other side does not have the votes. Villar should not be too cocky on that.
Those in the opposition should not dismiss this latest chapter in Villar’s rollercoaster political life as a normal aberration that will straighten out in due course. Rather, they should take it as a declaration of war against them, or a severance of his ties from, and membership in, the opposition. That way, Villar is put in his proper place — neither here nor there with his ragtag political party — and the opposition can move forward from the juncture where Villar is cast off.
The “political mongrels” on Villar’s side, who never shed their opposition color despite voting Villar for Senate president, should realize early on that they have been conned. They should now take common cause with their brethren in the so-called minority of numerically superior opposition senators and prove to Villar that the opposition is alive and well and strong enough to throw him out of the swivel chair where he sits as the third most powerful man in the country’s political structure.
Expediently, Villar has shown no feelings of guilt in wearing all shades and shapes of hats through his political career. He has flirted and sealed deals with politicians from all sides of the political divide. It appears that the things he has done and said were calculated, elaborate, and devoid of ardent dedication — behind the flashy smile, that held outer charm, was the cold real-estate businessman that he really was in the first place. His compunctionless song-and-dance has proved successful so far, even in convincing Estrada to co-opt him into the opposition that he once scorned and is now deriding once again.
In this latest somersault of Villar, the opposition should expect him to land on his sorry butt, far away from the podium of the Senate presidency. And the fall will resound not with a bang, but with a whimper. Serves him right.
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