Opposing the coalition

I AM a member of the Liberal Party, and one of the nice things about this political organization is that a member is allowed to speak his mind and voice out his opinion. And I must say I am dismayed at present noises coming from the national leadership about plans to coalesce with the Nationalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

The move to unite the three parties came at the heels of a similar move taken by Vice-President Jejomar Binay’s Partido Demokratikong Pilipino–Laban (PDP-Laban) to join forces with former President “Erap” Estrada’s Partido Ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) during the 2013 national and local elections.

One of the things that convinced me to join the LP during the 2010 presidential elections was my observation that its members stuck to the ideals of the Liberal Party and did not allow themselves to be sucked into the so-called “Rainbow Coalition” of then House Speaker Jose de Venecia or the Lakas-Kampi Coalition headed by former President Gloria Arroyo. They refused to join either coalition because the policies of both were not representative of the goals and ideals of the LP. It was a question of principles, and I admired them for refusing to coalesce.

Now that the Liberal Party is the party-in-power, now that one of its members is the President of the Republic and now that it is in a position to influence the way that politics and politicians handle governance in the Philippines, why should it go back to the old practice of a “politics-for-convenience”?

The Liberal Party operates under the principle of “liberal democracy,” which places it into a more open and more free-thinking type of governance as opposed to the more conservative and de cajon policies of the Nationalista Party. The proposed coalition is up to the 2013 elections only. In 2016 every indicator points to Bongbong trying his luck at the Presidency. Will the NP/LP Coalition support him? Of course not. Their banding together, if it pushes through, is only based on political expediency, not on principles. Political expediency is “trapo politics.”

Political analysts say that the coalition between the LP and the NPC is the Party’s way of counter-acting the team-up of the PDP-Laban with Pnoy’s uncle, Peping Cojuangco. The theory seems to be, if Jojo Binay ties up with Peping, why, Pnoy will tie up with Danding. Again, why should the LP react this way? As the one in power, it should be blazing the trail; it should not be the one futilely trying to put out the blaze the other parties have lit.

Filipinos in their millions went out on a limb in order to make Pnoy win in 2010. The President himself has put his reputation out on a limb several times, trying to live up to his campaign promises. His party should do no less.