By: Angel Bulauitan
It may be embarrassing to remind all presidential candidates, but frankly none of them, except for Pwersa ng Masa candidate, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, can validly claim as belonging to the opposition. After the infamy of political swindle and the subsequent vandalism on the Constitution by the elite and the clerics, a political reconfiguration has taken place in the public perception on who should be considered belonging to the opposition, and residually which among the forces should be classified as opposition political parties.
Thanks to the political trauma the hypocrites had inflicted to our people. If not, we would still be observing the same stereotype process of dichotomizing political parties as either belonging to the administration based on the conventional thinking that the party to which the occupant in Malacañang belongs, or belonging to the opposition if outside of the fence. For Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, there can be no doubt he is the bet groomed by Arroyo, as such belonging to the administration party.
Our people have taken upon themselves to reformat their political orientation of political parties on the basis of whether they participated or had a hand in the criminal conspiracy that ousted the legitimately-elected president in 2001. Thus, if viewed from this angle, Estrada validly stands as the only opposition candidate. That of course is by virtue of his being the victim that saw the hijacking of his position that since then has been occupied with an iron grip by Arroyo.
Liberal Party candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, his running mate Manuel “Mar” Roxas, and Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar of the Nacionalista Party cannot be said as belonging to the opposition due to the fact that at one time or another, they supported and benefited from that infamous political swindle. Their falling from grace would not, by any stretch of the imagination, qualify them as belonging to the opposition. The breaking of alliances, just as what the LP has been doing to furiously distance itself from Malacañang, did not inject a new ideological substance for people to give them that credit as an opposition party.
The original coalition that made up the Edsa swindle led by Lakas-Kampi-CMD was what has been split due to desertion, and to cover up this truth, the breakaway groups now disguise themselves as part of the opposition.
Maybe the Nacionalista Party cannot be categorized as belonging to the administration much that its resurrection came about only after Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar made a determined effort to run for president with a party firmly under his thumb. But Villar cannot deny he came from the same pack of coyotes that took turns in snarling and biting the Estrada presidency until it finally fell. In fact, there was no reason for him to bolt Lakas-CMD, except that he wanted to form his own because the party Arroyo patronizes was not keen in considering him as its candidate.
Nonetheless, even if Villar already made peace with Estrada, the forgiveness extended to him would not alter the people’s perception of him as once a formidable cabal of the administration. Some even suspect he could be the Trojan Horse of Malacañang, considering his political track record of being always on the side where the grass is greener.
In the case of the LP led by Noynoy Aquino, theirs is a case where both the party and its leaders are perceived as clones of the ruling administration, having proven themselves as even more notorious political opportunists. For one, Senator Roxas was the first Cabinet member of Estrada to abandon him, while Aquino safely identified himself with the party supported by Estrada because he could sense he might not make it if he aligned himself with the Arroyo supported political party. Perceived from a different angle, the fight of the LP against Arroyo is an infighting on who should be at the helm, and not a fight that the LP is offering an alternative program of government.
They now grumble not for reasons they were not given their share of the carcass, but that after the discovery of the plot hatched by the so-called Hyatt 10, its members who then were getting the juicy positions had to be shoved away from the trough. Their discontent therefore stems from their ambition to capture political power of which the alpha female would instinctively shoo them away.
Even the Nationalist People’s Coaltion is far from being an opposition party. It has consistently played the wily game of allowing its members to support the administration while the ambitious pretend to bark like opposition members. They purposely split themselves but only to regroup when it would be most convenient to them. For that, the politically gasping Sen. Loren Legarda would certainly appreciate it if she would be invited as running mate of Teodoro or even by Villar.
With this rundown of the political parties pretending to belong to the opposition, it is now beyond doubt that Joseph Estrada and his running mate, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, stand as the only and real opposition. The rest can be classified without hesitation as bogus or lemon opposition parties. This claim is too obvious for the victim Erap Estrada to explain. His being looked upon as belonging to the opposition is rooted on his commitment to the people to provide them a better way of life. But sadly, there is a looming threat to that bright optimism because the elite and the clerics are not about ready to cede their princely economic and political privileges.