DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Consistency is the dependable standard
Sunday, 11 01, 2009
"Loren sticks to the opposition.” Nothing has made me more determined to give my support to the opposition than this online news as I count the end of my days in Bishkek.
Loren Legarda has always been in the opposition, and she should carry that label with pride as the campaign progresses. Then we have former President Joseph Estrada, Mayor Jojo Binay, and Sen. Chiz Escudero as the other bets of the Genuine Opposition. Many other candidates for president and vice president claim to be in the opposition today. Really? How genuine are their claims? The provenance of these claims can be traced to the elections of May 2004, when massive cheating installed a government that does not deserve to rule and to govern.
Anyone who helped install the government of Gloria — and I single out the Liberal Party, regardless of its subsequent breakaway from that government — does not deserve to get the support of the electorate, especially those sympathetic to the opposition, in May 2010.
The breakaway of the LP at the height of the Garci Controversy was never on principle. It was naked political ambition; crass opportunism, if you will. The party saw an opportunity to grab power from within, but was foiled. Since then, it has remained vociferous — through a smaller than half of its total membership, the bigger part having stuck it out with Gloria — against the government. But never for once has the LP admitted to its principal role in the commission of the ultimate crime of fraud against the Filipino people in May 2004.
The LP knew very well Gloria cheated her way to the presidency. And why would the LP not know? The party was there in the thick of the cheating, its leaders were simply noting our objections! Where was the LP when we were crying ourselves hoarse against the fraud? Its members would not even let us speak, or present the election returns to prove the lie of the manufactured certificates of canvass.
The leaders of the LP railroaded the national canvass, and even had the horrendous gall to proclaim Gloria as president at dawn.
Even before the elections, the senators belonging to the LP prevented the report of the Angara Committee establishing the Manapat forgeries on the birth certificate of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and the marriage certificate of FPJ’s parents. The LP employed all the tricks to derail the victory of FPJ and Loren in 2004.
It is presidential elections once again, and the LP now offers itself as the alternative to the worst government we have had, whose genesis is unmistakably the responsibility of that party. Pray, tell, how can the LP be the alternative if it is on the same side as Gloria’s?
The choices for 2010 should be limited to those who have been in the Genuine Opposition since 2004, who have consistently fought for truth, who have been the victims of the government installed by modern-day Sauls who were blinded by the light on the road to Malacañang.
The LP derides Estrada for allegedly not admitting to his mistakes that led to his conviction. Now let’s turn the tables and see what we have: A party that is proud of its role in the massive fraud in 2004, which inflicted on the nation a president like Gloria?
However much those in the Genuine Opposition may differ among themselves in their ambitions — with each one wanting to be president or vice-president — their consistency for the cause of truth should be the limiting standard. Only they can claim to be the standard bearers of the opposition.
Whoever was responsible for installing Gloria in 2004 — and I refer to those in the LP who went to bed with her, who prostituted themselves for political patronage, who enjoyed the power that went with being with the lying and the cheating and the stealing, then all too suddenly turned against Gloria — could be the worst politicians we will ever have. The nation does not deserve these opportunists to rule. They will change their color just as easily as they can shout “Garci!”
There is something appealing in politicians who stick to their principles. They are predictable and honest to everyone.
And there is something appalling in politicians who transfer their loyalties when ambitions can no longer be accommodated and sustained or when greed seeks a larger trough and a deeper (pork) barrel from which they must feed. They could sell you to the highest bidder, the keepers of the gold who make the rules — anytime and every time. Remember that time when the leaders of the LP trooped to Malacañang to reiterate their loyalty to Gloria, even offered a province as place of refuge for Her Majesty just in case the natives get too restive? And, all too suddenly, 48 hours later, they had set the motion for a coup against Gloria?
It is a queer cloak that the LP wears — reversible but black inside out. Whenever convenience dictates, the party reverses the cape and simply goes to the other end of its side of the political divide. It is still on the side of Gloria, only that they are fighting Gloria from within and under false colors.
It takes the likes of Loren, Erap, Chiz, and Jojo to stick to the opposition. They could be elbowing each other in order to become the president or vice president, but they are still together on the other side, all on the side of the Genuine Opposition. Somehow, it is sensible when this division in the political spectrum is seen in this light.
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This space has consistently written against the opportunism that the LP has perfected. Its candidates have no claim to be legitimate oppositionists. They have no claim to constancy. They stand only for opportunism and disloyalty. Look at Kiko Pangilinan, for example. Was it not only yesterday that he broke a gavel just to bring home the point that FPJ and Loren lost to Gloria and Noli? Now he is saying he belongs to the opposition!
The Filipino electorate will know better in 2010. They will choose from among the choices in the Genuine Opposition.
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