1SAMBAYAN: Unity in diversity

WHAT are the chances of the opposition in the forthcoming national elections in 2022? If the Otso Diretso debacle during the 2019 elections was a portent of things to come in 2022, then the prospect of the anti-duterte forces is bleak. Normally, the midterm elections are stacked against the administration since its anointed candidates labor under the burden of the ruling regime’s performance during the first half of its term, which more often than not, is always found wanting. But Duterte’s team overcame this handicap and its lopsided victory in 2019 is a credit to the welloiled political machinery and effective organization of Duterte.

President Duterte, not the party, commands personal loyalty from his minions who are willing to do his biddings. It’s not fealty to the party, Pdplaban, which the President himself calls a ragtag group when it adopted and endorsed his presidential run in 2016, but to the persona of President Duterte. Outside of Senator Koko Pimentel, former Governor Lutgardo Barbo and the original and die-hard Pdp-laban members, I doubt if others can recite the objectives of the party and its platform of government. Very recently, Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s endorsement of President Duterte to run for VP in a possible tandem with either Mayor Sara or Senator Bong Go, which earned Senator Manny Pacquiao’s (Pdp-laban President) ire, speaks of the lack of party discipline and consensus within Duterte’s own party and reflects the incoherence and lack of discipline within the ranks of the President’s own party.

Going back to the 2019 senatorial contest, the total annihilation of the Liberal Party senatorial bets, as well as the five candidates fielded by the labor and Makabayan bloc, at the polls betrayed the bankrupt state of the opposition in our country. No doubt, the anti-duterte slates offered more talented and experienced candidates yet they suffered ignominious defeat at the hands of virtual political neophytes whose only major qualification was their closeness to the President. The ticket was led by a former presidential candidate and former senatorial topnotcher, a law dean, a prominent election lawyer and senior citizen advocate, a bar topnotcher and former solicitor general and others who had glowing qualifications and fitness for the job. Yet except for the decent showing of the opposition in Bicol and Western Visayas, largely owing to the support given by the regions to their favorite son, Mar Roxas, and Vice President Leni Robredo, Otso Diretso’s political clout was nowhere in sight. Even Metro Manila, which has been a traditional bastion of the opposition, did not deliver its much-vaunted antiadministration votes.

If they want to reverse their fortune in 2022, 1SAMBAYAN should learn the lessons of the past. The effort to unite all opposition groups is not a new experiment. Many have tried it but they failed. Selfless leaders can sacrifice their own interest for the sake of party unity. But this is a virtue that is direly in short supply nowadays. Our so-called leaders do not believe that they can also lead without staying in front. In the rare occasion where selfinterest gave way to national interest, the opposition candidate, Cory Aquino, won over the well-entrenched incumbent, Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 presidential snap election. And this happened only after the leading candidate of the opposition, Doy Laurel of Unido who had worked so hard to achieve the pole position had given way to the surging public clamor for then housewife Cory to run. In contrast, the nascent presidential campaign of Fernado Poe, Jr. failed to gain solid traction in the 1994 presidential race when another opposition candidate, Senator Ping Lacson, declined to withdraw his candidacy despite efforts by inf luential persons and groups to give way to the opposition frontrunner.

Have the Filipinos suffered enough from the present dispensation to galvanize them into a concerted action to effect a change in our national leadership? 1SAMBAYAN should be able to unleash the anti-duterte sentiments, which have piled up since President Duterte took office. All the alleged failures and abuses perpetrated by the officials and partisans of the current regime such as violent anti-drug war, the unabated graft and corruption in government, the red-tagging, ineffective implementation of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and the alarming spike in the killing of lawyers, militants, labor leaders and human rights activists should be brought to the public consciousness and be made part of the public conversation. These are potential rallying causes that can capture the political ardor and strong commitment of the public who are sympathetic to the opposition alliance. They will be the core supporters who will advance the cause of freedom which 1SAMBAYAN stands for. Like the Cory Movement for President during the Marcos dictatorship, 1SAMBAYAN should not just be a political party but a movement where its adherents staunchly believe the ideals it is fighting for. Only 14 months are left before the E-day and the first half of that will be spent in selecting the standard bearer of 1SAMBAYAN. The period will be marked by intramurals, bickerings and in fighting among the aspirants, which may only place the movement asunder, instead of being united. This will be the biggest challenge to the convenors—how to maintain unity despite the divisive process. Likewise, respecting the selection process and honoring its result will be a test of the statesmanship of the losing aspirants. The intention is for 1SAMBAYAN to serve as the political umbrella for all opposition forces united under its shade to do battle against the ruling regime. Loss will be inevitable if 1SAMBAYAN fails to find the recipe to unite the so-called democratic forces. The convenors take pride in claiming that 1SAMBAYAN is the broadest political coalition at present. It is joined by the leftist groups, it is reinforced by the rightist elements and held together by the centrist advocates. The founding fathers of 1SAMBAYAN should succeed in securing a balance of these conflicting forces without unduly favoring a particular sector. It should not go right, go left or stay at the center. The only way to succeed is to forge ahead and move forward taking into account their competing interests. To be worthy of its glorious name, 1SAMBAYAN should act as One Nation, One People in pursuit of One Dream—to prevent a Duterte-anointed candidate from winning the presidency in the 2022 national elections.