THE biggest test for our democracy this year is the May elections. The political exercise is also a test for the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has continued his run of good ratings in surveys despite the controversies he is embroiled in. Can those good ratings translate into votes for his candidates in the elections?
But first, the hope is for the elections to be like the other political exercises held before: generally peaceful. Many politicians, when asked for their wish for the new year, are one in hoping for a peaceful and orderly elections. I also hope we would have that as proof that our democracy is strong.
The administration is actually facing a severely weakened opposition. The so-called Oposisyon Koalisyon could only field eight candidates for a senatorial race with 12 seats available. They are Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno (son of the late former senator Jose W. Diokno), Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc, former solicitor general Florin Hilbay, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, former Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada, and former presidential bet Mar Roxas.
If all of the eight candidates win in May, then that would be a slap on the Duterte administration considering the resources at its disposal. One administration senatorial candidate alone could even give aid to whoever has been hit by a calamity nationwide. The said candidate gave a lunch treat to victims of the fire in Barangay Duljo-Fatima recently.
If that candidate loses and the eight opposition candidates win, I would say that would be the day. In the United States, many of President Donald Trump’s bets in the congressional and senatorial polls lost. I take that as the political pendulum swinging back to the other side. That doesn’t augur well for the senatorial candidates of the administration.
I say the biggest battle would be in the Senate where many of the administration plans have been stymied. The House of Representatives will continue to be ruled by a pro-Duterte supermajority because I don’t see opposition bets in the congressional race making headway in the various districts nationwide. In Cebu, congressional bets aligned with the administration would still dominate.
That is why for democracy’s sake, I would vote for all eight Oposisyon Koalisyon candidates because Congress needs fiscalizers. Consider the attempt by the House to ram through Congress the version of a federalist constitution conceived by a cabal lead by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. A Senate without a conscience would have already allowed the bill pushing for that constitution to be signed into law by the President so a referendum could be held in time for the May 2019 elections.
The Senate is the remaining bastion of decency under the current setup, and I hope that wouldn’t change until the President consumes his term in 2022. The only way that setup would remain is not to allow people like Bong Go to become senator. We already have enough of Manny Paccquiao’s kind there—senators who are no different from many of those who are in the House supermajority.