Pamatong, Trillanes, and the opposition that keeps failing

WITH the raid on lawyer Ely Pamatong’s 42 houses (wow) yielding a weapons cache in Cagayan de Oro last week, and the public tussle between Senator Antonio Trillanes and other senators, the opposition as a whole has fallen into one blunder after another, eroding their credibility as a political player.

Indeed, many observers note that such are desperate and reckless moves by a group that was never able to gain wide public support despite the supposed popularity of the causes they espouse. The failure to mobilize nothing more than dramatic pocket demonstrations shows how weakened they have become, all due to a lack of credibility.

This is because the mainstream opposition led by the Liberal Party are seen as part of the problem. In the minds of people, the persistent economic inequality, and pervasive drug problem are part of a bundle of failed promises of the government they once held.

Worse, as they continue to challenge governments programs like the war on drugs, they look like they defend the interests of drug lords the people blame for the destruction of their families and violence in their own communities.

These other opposition actors, such as Trillanes-allied politicians and groups like lawyer Ely Pamatong’s USAFFE, all try to delegitimize government and mislead the public using an assortment of tools: doubtful documents, wild claims, and even recanted testimony.

When they do come out, it is often with a sheer lack of finesse and political sophistication. Senate hearings, for example, have become tools to push compelling notions based on unverified information to implicate and embarass.

Often they involve calling witnesses to testify on things that happened long before in places faraway like Mindanao, far from verification by the Manila media and other investigators.

Thus, while many in Manila may find these things appalling and compelling at first glance, many in Mindanao do not even think them credible, as many know the real score behind the presentations, and facts eventually come out to disprove the allegations. Online and social media have been the tools of many to obtain needed references.

Moreover, when other facts come out to disprove these impressions, their mouths suddenly fall silent and push to other topics. This shiftiness adds to the impression of deceit, and slaps an insult to the people’s intelligence. Whatever credibility is left goes to the dogs.

Of course, the more educated among the government’s detractors will never claim an alliance with Pamatong , a lawyer known for his own world view and outrageous antics.

Nonetheless, the same methods have been seen in their own fairhaired Trillanes, who once alleged that certain properties belonged to the president actually belonged to other people named Duterte who eventually came out to disprove the allegations. This embarrassing outcome assails his intentions and hurts his credibility.

The opposition has made the Senate hearing an arena for this crass brand of politicking that serves no end but their own political survival.

Unfortunately, when subjected to the crucible of deeper media scrutiny, they all melt. Trillanes, in particular, will be best remembered for that debacle in front of the BBCs Stephen Shackur.

In sum, opposition approaches are simply not working. With each mishap and misstep, their credibility and political capital erodes further. The minority bloc coming together to back up Trillanes is a bad move.

For the opposition to regain credibility, it needs to continue recalibrating its approach, perhaps by looking inside itself and weeding out those with unnecessary baggage. It should come out and publicly condemn, rather than stubbornly defend those within its ranks accused of wrongdoing to regain public credibility. That is a jagged and bitter pill, but one they must all swallow.

The opposition in this country has to learn a thing or two from opposition parties in more advanced democracies like those in Europe.

There, the parliamentary nature of many governments allows for sudden shifts in power once a no-confidence vote is passed against a sitting prime minister and his cabinet, who are all members of parliament.

Thus, all parties need to conduct themselves with the credibility of those who can take the reins government at any time.

This means that their hands must be as clean as possible, their political positions more credible, and their governance programs more effective than the governments they seek to replace. Otherwise, they fall into being more of the same, if not worse than the regimes they hope to defeat.