Democratic vision
NERI Colmenares, Leody de Guzman, and other progressive, independent, or opposition candidates can still win — but only if we expand our democratic vision and take action leading to Election Day.
The likes of Colmenares, De Guzman, and others are not unpopular. They are the standard-bearers of the grassroots-based democratic movements that have long fought for radical reforms and pursue nationalist and democratic programs especially at this time of treason and elitism.
Duterte is particularly afraid of Colmenares and De Duzman because they propose truly radical reforms that expose the sham that this regime is supposedly reformist or revolutionary. They stand for the ending of Endo, raising of workers’ wages, a pro-Filipino foreign policy, resumption of peace talks, the removal of excise taxes under TRAIN, and of course genuine land reform and national industrialization.
We must not forget that that the status quo’s main criteria for being dubbed “winnable” isn’t about platform.
It is about the candidates’ deep pockets, the endorsement from the President, and the list of donors from the moneyed class.
It is thus not enough, nay, not correct to shame the voters. We must challenge the conventional wisdom (read: the “wisdom” of the elite) that voters are stupid. Instead, must understand the various forces that have coalesced under Hugpong and PDP-Laban, and how they march towards what seems to be imminent victory.
Neither is it correct to limit people’s choices to a mere eight. All consequential political parties and coalitions must give the people choices not just for 12 Senate seats. The people demand to see anti-tyranny candidates for a total of 18,081 positions to be filled up this May. If the main opposition Liberal Party cannot vie for all the positions, it should not discourage those who attempt to do so. The elections are far bigger than Otso Diretso individually or combined.
We must widen our democratic vision. There are 12 seats up for grabs in the Senate. We cannot instantly surrender four seats to Hugpong and PDP-Laban by insisting on just Otso Diretso.
There’s still time for a grand opposition and independent slate of 12 candidates. Makabayan has tried its best in this effort by endorsing five from Otso Diretso (Chel Diokno, Samira Gutoc, Erin Tañada, Bam Aquino, and Pilo Hilbay), two from the Labor Win alliance (De Guzman and Sonny Matula) and three independents (Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, and Serge Osmeña) to run under its banner alongside Colmenares.
We also cannot ignore the House races, especially the partylist representatives. There will be about five dozen seats in the House to be allocated for Partylist Representatives and there are indications that there’s a terrible problem waiting to happen.
The main opposition’s infatuation with the number 8 has blinded itself and made it ignore the prospect that genuine partylists may be booted out in the elections. The Comelec’s final list of partylist contenders looks like an alphabet soup of traditional politicians and political dynasties seeking yet another set of seats for their political rigodon.
The accreditation and participation of traditional politicians and political dynasties in sham partylists puts them in a position to snatch these seats from the underrepresented and marginalized in a magnitude never before seen since 1998. The trapo’s and dynasties’ effort to be elected through the partylist route could multiply the total partylist votes by the hundreds of thousands to millions — and this could spell the end for Gabriela Women’s Party, ACT Teachers, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Kabataan, and other partylist contenders who don’t have the backing of and actually challenge the ruling elites.
If we do not take a good second look and not consciously shield the partylist system from the traditional politicians and dynasties, the latter would dominate this democratic project as well. This — the election of more genuine partylist representatives — is perhaps the second biggest task of the broad opposition. If done right and with the election of more than double the current House minority bloc, the broad opposition may have more than enough votes in the House to influence lawmaking, investigations and perhaps even impeachment.
Colmenares and De Guzman could perhaps put up a stronger challenge in the Senate race if they campaign for as many partylists as they could possibly campaign for. They could stand as protectors of the partylist system, as defenders of a means for the poor to be represented in government.
Friends have asked or approached me for my list of senators. I always give them Colmenares and De Guzman as starters, and then the Makabayan 11. One or two would normally raise eyebrows. But with a short discussion, the idea of Makabayan’s campaign for an independent Senate wins the argument especially if compared with a paltry list of just eight or the shambolic Hugpong and PDP-Laban slates.
Right now, some intellectuals are losing their voices from shouting “bobotante” from their ivory towers. There must be a better way. The intellectuals must go down to the people and ask what they care about and to tell them about the roles of guns, goons and gold in the elections. They must join the people in challenging and smashing the myth of “winnability” which is just another word for “candidates as usual.”
Nobody said it would be easy to bring the likes of Colmenares and De Guzman to victory. Other candidates have druglords and Big Landlords as donors and campaigners.
Colmenares and De Guzman face huge odds that they can only leap over if we help them by the millions. We could make our own posters. We could campaign for them to our friends and family. We could donate money to them. We could organize small events for them. We could join their parties. There’s nothing more democratic than in joining the democratic effort to elect candidates who broaden and deepen our democratic conception of country and government.
Reject fatalism and cynicism. Let’s do everything in our power to bring Colmenares, De Guzman, and real partylists to victory.