Party shopping

In one fell swoop, the decision of Rep. Ace Durano to campaign for Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero in the presidential and vice presidential race shows the political savvy of the Duranos and their reading of the murky world of Philippine politics. Political survival means never putting one’s eggs in just one basket, especially if that basket is not sure to get noticed by the public.

We are seeing a veteran political family that has survived even before the Marcos Dictatorship began and continues to be influential in a large chunk of the province of Cebu. (Which makes me wonder why the Duranos did not put up a gubernatorial candidate?) And it will continue to survive even without Mar Roxas at the presidency. That it is willing to open a door to Roxas’s opponent in the upcoming elections is the best expression for me of realpolitik, of reading what is really happening on the ground.

It also, unfortunately, exposes what pre-Martial Law political pundits have said all along: that political parties in the Philippines are a mockery to real and genuine democracy; that at the end of the day, persons matter more than principles. We have weak democratic institutions that get subsumed in personal and familial decision-making. Party discipline does not exist here, only party shopping, with each candidate given choices of which party to shop around for principles that can be discarded anytime.

The decision of Ace to shift allegiance to Poe and Escudero carries with it, nonetheless, a semblance of regularity as he is the chair of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition in the province and Escudero is a lso a card-carrying member of the NPC. But Poe has not yet expressed willingness to remove her cloak of independence to embrace that party. Are we now to assume that her independent stance has finally ended? Or will she just be “adopted” by the NPC?

The word “adoption” I believe is a very Filipino invention in democracy. In the United States, where we copy our representative democracy, no adoption exists because of party discipline and because the tow-party system there ensures a long bench, meaning, many future candidates are already developed right when they start entering the political arena. Party discipline also ensures that no one ever leaves the party without paying the price for such disloyalty.

In this instance, Ace Durano is doing precisely what NPC would have expected of him: that he will toe the party line and not to succumb to the LP charm, if ever there is one.

The decision of Ace, however, contrasts sharply with the decision of the Liberal Party to shift favor to incumbents who only belatedly, if at all, joined that party, leaving behind long-time loyalists like Mayor Abe Canoy of San Fernando and the erstwhile mayoral candidate that stuck his head—and his money—out for Pres. Benigno Aquino III and Mar Roxas in the previous election, Ephrain Pelaez, who has now been shunted out of LP in favor of the Radazas.

In doing so, the LP has shown that it is no different from its pre-Martial Law ancestors that ran it. In doing so, the LP has set aside principles over greedy politics and the desire to win no matter what the cost. In doing so, it has diluted itself and now deludes itself even further that things can still change in this country’s version of democracy.

Instead of sticking to its faith and principles like St. Ignatius of Antioch amidst the lions at the Colosseum, the LP, like any other party in this country, has joined the lions in order not to be devoured. In other words, nothing much has changed in this country’s political arena.

It is time to wake up to the reality that Philippine politics has not changed at all. Goodbye to all those dreams of a straight path (“Daang Matuwid”) to a better Philippines. Sen. Miriam Santiago is right; we cannot even find Daang Matuwid on GPS.