Whims and caprices in politics

IT was the late Senate President Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Sr. who made famous a candid observation that “politics is addition.”

What “the grand old man of Philippine politics” meant was people can gauge how strong and influential political parties are by the surge of affiliation of new converts and followers.

This adage is still quoted today but in a more profound way.

Little did “Amang” know that six decades after his power and popularity in Philippine politics from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, that one by-product of his political addition is “capricious politics.”

An example is Former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. When he won in June, 2013, he announced that he was good only for one term.

He now realized that his promise to restore back to the old glory of the Ever-Loyal City of Manila cannot be attained in just three years.

So last week, Mayor Erap announced before members of the City Hall Press Club that he will seek another three-year term.

Many astute Manilans expected that. So what will happen to the hardworking Vice Mayor Isko Moreno? It was narrated by City Hall insiders that a scenario occurred. It went this way:

Mayor Erap told his No. 2 official - “With your good looks, you will be better off in Congress. ‘Marami kang comparison dun.” (You can compare yourself with so many of them there), the Mayor must have told Vice Mayor Isko.

Like the “Amang,” Mayor Erap is fond of venturing into malapropism, the use of a word that sounds differently as intended but becomes amusing because it is used in a wrong context.

Accordingly, Vice Mayor Isko announced he will aim for a Senate seat.

Another prominent personality that is hampered by capricious politics is Sec. Mar Roxas. Not a few observers ensconced in coffee shops are saying he is in suspended animation, i.e., relative to the Liberal Party’s formally anointing him its 2016 presidential candidate.

To think that Roxas’ NCR and provincial sorties are all crowddrawing and seen as politically advantageous to him.

Ironically, even Mar himself is tight-lipped as to his getting his party’s nomination in the May, 2016, polls. To think that it is barely 13 months before some 50 million voters will trek to voting precincts and elect their next president.

And what about Vice President Jojo Binay? He has been into indiscreet campaigning since 2013. He is also using these visits as his venues to parry those corruption blows thrown at him.

His otherwise high trust rating is dented slightly. Last Thursday’s SWS survey saw his merits diving to 36 percent, from 38 percent last quarter of 2014.

The three Binay siblings who are elected officials are shielding their father from those vote-shattering charges.

But the vice president has four aces in his card – the four Aquino lady siblings who are silently cheering for him.

A malapropism that is appropriate for the No. 2 official of the land, that his political opponents may find a crowd pleaser, is “benighted” (overtaken by nightfall). The word is homonym of “Binay,” and has connotation to his complexion.

Such is a whimsical situation that can only be ascribed to the capricious brand of Philippine politics.