The season for political butterflies and opportunism

In our country today and for many decades, the traditional politicians do easily transfer political affiliations in the same manner they change their shirts and pants. There are no political principles or ideologies involved, There are no recruitment and application processes in place. It is all a matter of convenience greed and transactional politics. Unlike the political systems in Europe and the Americas, ours are all personality-based and transaction-driven.

Here in the Philippines, there has not been any semblance to the old stability of the Nacionalista Party (NP) of Don Sergio Osmena, Sr., of Ramon F Magsaysay and of Carlos P Garcia, and the Liberal Party (LP) of Manuel A Roxas Sr., Elpidio Quirino and Ninoy Aquino. Today, political parties are disposable vehicles of political convenience and opportunism. Look what happens to the Estradas and the Binays. Jinggoy Estrada is running under the banner of his father, mayor/president Joseph Estrada, the PMP, Partido Ng Masang Pilipino. Sensing that this party could not accommodate two sons running for the same post, JV Ejercito raised his hand and took his oath before Senate president Tito Sotto nd instantly became a card-bearing member of the NPC or the National Peoples' Coalition,originally led by businessman, Eduardo " Danding'' Cojuangco. Ask them how does NPC differ from PMP, and they will look at you as if you are the political nincompoop.

Today, the scions of Don Sergio, who was the founder and stalwart of the NP, are aligned with the LP, the political party that betrayed and defeated their great patriarch. Actually, we can say that political turncoatism was really started by Manuel A Roxas Sr, the grandfather of Mar Roxas. Don Manuel A Roxas and Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. were staunch Nacionalista stalwarts together with Don Manuel Quezon. They were the original triumvirate like Athos, Portos and Aramis in the glorious years of Philippine politics. Roxas and Osmeña fought each other in a clean, open and fair party convention. When Roxas was beaten, he bolted the NP and founded the LP, then proceeded to win over Don Sergio, with the slimmest plurality, much thinner than Robredo's win over Marcos in 2016. The original opportunists were the LPs. It was followed by Magsaysay, a cabinet member of Quirino. He bolted his party and joined the NP then won over his former boss. Marcos too from LP to NP then to the KBL.

In the last political coup in the House, Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia was one of those who stood loyal to Bebot Alvarez against the open and blitzkrieg aggression of the GMA attacking forces. And yet, when GMA defeated Alvarez, Garcia joined the thanksgiving party in the GMA mansion and is now a part of the coalition among Lakas-NUCD, One-Cebu and PDP-Laban, among others. What ideology make these parties join forces? It is the ideology of convenience and opportunism. If you ask them what political principles are binding all these strange bedfellows together, they would look at you as if you were that naive ignoramus from planet Mars, who was just born yesterday.