Wanted: United People’s Coalition for 2019

FOR all its pretensions of being all-mighty and all-powerful, the squabbling parties of the Duterte-Arroyo-Marcos coalition appear to have failed to come up with a common pro-administration senatorial slate as the deadline for filing certificates of candidacy lapsed.

It seems there are more sycophantic DDS candidates than Duterte could handle. He has to entice and ensure reelectionist incumbents that he won’t junk them, while trying to double-check their loyalties. Koko Pimentel’s role as PDP-Laban chair is clipped by Her Royal Highness Mayor Sara Duterte who has formed and expanded a Hugpong national party. Did these parties come up with a common slate? No.

This division should embolden the political opposition to finally come together to offer the public a tantalizing alternative program of government and a slate of candidates ready and able to stand up to Duterte as senators.

There are lots at stake in 2019. And the political opposition led by the Liberal Party, Makabayan, and Magdalo should be able to forge an electoral alliance, draft a common anti-tyranny program and present a slate of 12 distinguished candidates. They should draw inspiration and lessons from the Labor Unity of May 1, the United People’s SONA and the United People’s Action. It can be done.

Senator Kiko Pangilinan, former Rep. Neri Colmenares, and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV should be able to think and act like statesmen right now, and set aside rivalries or preconceived notions. The broad united front against Duterte are looking at them now to form a United People’s Coalition for 2019.

A United People’s Coalition should easily gather a slate of 12 candidates who everyone could proudly campaign for and represent the united front galvanized by issues from tyranny to inflation, sovereignty to economic relief, rule of law to good governance. Yes, I say “easily” if the opposition groups focus on the singular objective of changing the balance of power in the Senate — in favor of a growing consensus on the issues.

I know Colmenares and Trillanes could be strange bedfellows, but they are united in their common disdain for Duterte’s legal shortcuts and political persecution. There are more issues that bind them than what separates them.

Those who want to have a Senate that would stand up to Duterte should not waste time on the campaign to reject Mocha Uson. We have more important things at hand like enjoining the political parties to unite and to lead the voters to victory in 2019.

Most of the Senate reelectionists have so far sided with either PDP-Laban or Hugpong. That’s to be expected as the electoral system remains dominated by guns, goons and gold. And Duterte has all these in his electoral arsenal. But the situation could still change as the campaign starts and rolls on.

It is now part of conventional wisdom that the main problem with Philippine politics is the “bobotante.” But as we can see in the jockeying towards the Comelec deadline for filing candidacies, this conventional wisdom is nothing more than traditional politicians’ attempt to airbrush the dominance of “guns, goons and gold,” political dynasties, private armies, politicized police, and the refusal to initiate campaign finance reform. It would be fatal to the opposition parties if they choose to use the campaign as a pulpit to bully and blame voters who only want to vote for candidates who could lead on matters clearly beyond voters’ control.

The spin and myth about the “bobotante” is a fairly recent one, spread by most of the dominant parties eager to exculpate themselves from their direct accountability. As anyone could’ve seen days ago, nobody except the candidates and the parties decided on who would run and under which parties. If you want to complain about the crop (or crap?) of candidates, complain to the parties.

It is not too late for the broad anti-Duterte opposition to do things differently. It could still do a national primary or a multiparty convention with clear, achievable and essential objections: Adopt a common platform, identify common candidates, and unveil a United People’s Coalition. And to further differentiate itself from the pro-Duterte parties beholden to or controlled by a few powerful politicians, the opposition project could be made more democratic and open to even non-political parties like cause-oriented and advocacy groups.

What do we have to do about Mocha Uson? The answer is not as simple as ignoring her or not mentioning her. We cannot be naive about how elections work. The only way to ensure she doesn’t land in the Senate is to elect 12 anti-Duterte senators. Or at the very least, 12 candidates who aren’t Mocha Uson. We must vote for candidates we like in order to defeat candidates we don’t like.

Campaign finance is another area where the opposition could innovate and democratize. Instead of relying on donations from oligarchs, the anti-Duterte candidates and parties could find ways of funding their campaigns in an easy, safe and legallycompliant manner.

From Charter Change to the Rome Statue, from our sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea and Benham Rise to stopping TRAIN 2, from holding the abusive officials to defending students: we need a Senate properly populated by senators who would stand up against tyranny and who would defend and promote democracy.

Would such a United People’s Coalition and senatorial slate be winnable? Maybe. I cannot be too sure. But it would help if the public would see such a slate, be surprised by its platform, and take a look at a new way of making government work for us.

Another way of looking at this is how do we embolden and persuade people to join the campaign and go to the polls. Rejecting Mocha is clearly not enough — and we should also expect the administration to do everything legal and illegal to claim a fresh new mandate for continuing Duterte’s messy regime. We must really do better than Duterte and his sycophants.