Death knell for 1Sambayan

Since naming their candidates for nomination last month, nothing has been heard from the convenors of the supposed democracy advocate 1Sambayan following the series of “no, thank you’s” and courteous refusals they got from their nominees for next year’s national elections.

After announcing six nominees for president, Senator Grace Poe and Batangas Rep. Vilma Santo-Recto immediately declined the nomination. They were followed by Cibac Partylist Rep. Eddie Villanueva, and lawyer Chel Diokno, leaving Vice President Leni Robredo and former senator Antonio Trillanes III on the fold.

Before them, Senator Panfilo Lacson had already indicated his disinterest in the selection process, saying 1Sambayan is not inclusive enough after he was rejected by former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio because he was the author of the Anti-Terror Law, which the group is questioning before the Supreme Court.

With such a decimated lineup, it appears that 1Sambayan’s selection process is off on the wrong foot. With that, you could probably sound the death knell for 1Sampayan. Oops, we mean 1Sambayan.

As one analyst says, its holierthan thou attitude proved to be disastrous. The democratic process their convenors are supposed to be espousing turned out to be a farce after making decisions without even bothering to consult the personalities on their list.

From the video they presented, it looks like they are hell bent on pursuing their negative campaign theme of ‘change,’ asking when Filipinos will rise up against a backdrop of suffering and grim imagery.

Nice work. Nice presentation.

But judging from the tepid response they got from that, it seems that they have not really learned from the debacle of the ill-fated Otso Diretso slate of 2019. They are committing the same mistake all over again.

Reports that the opposition is slowly dying are not true at all. They have been dead since 2016. Their failure to grasp reality has been their undoing, having driven the final nail on their own coffin with that farce of a selection process.

With Robredo and Trillanes’ survey numbers pathetically nowhere among the frontrunners, the question now waiting to be answered is – Who will be the real opposition come 2022?

From all indications, it will all boil down to possible realignments where there are no clear-cut delineations. It will all boil down to whoever President Duterte will anoint. Or whether he will be true to his pronouncements that he will be vying for the vice-presidential post.

If Sara, her daughter, would indeed make a go for the presidency as she had conditionally indicated, a fiveway presidential race is slowly emerging, putting more pressure on the opposition who believes a one-on-one race would be more advantageous to them.

Well, they will have more reasons to be desperate in case Bongbong Marcos, Manny Pacquiao and Sara toss their hats in the presidential derby. The trio, along with the Lacson-Tito Sotto and Robredo-Trillanes tandems could make it a fiveway race, the same situation in 2016 where a relative dark horse (Duterte) came from left field to smother them all with his country bumpkin image.

From all indications, too, next year’s polls would not exactly be the same song-anddance contest that voters have been accustomed to. Inflation and unemployment are hitting the people hard, a situation the opposition is trying to take advantage of, making the situation more confusing.

With the economy in tatters, voters, we are sure, would be anxious and wary about their future. What the public wants to hear now are plans of action moving forward.

No more of those false promises, As they say, the next president should have a plan for his term in place even before the filing of his or her candidacy. Let’s not be gullible again. Let’s not fall prey to promises of change and false advocacies.

Otherwise, we may be tolling the death knell on our own lives.

“Let’s not be gullible again. Let’s not fall prey to promises of change and false advocacies.

“As they say, the next president should have a plan for his term in place even before the filing of his or her candidacy.