Sen. Manny Villar, being a true Nacionalista Party stalwart, obviously believes in the political philosophy popularized by the late Mr. Nacionalista, Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez who said: “Politics is addition.”
Having set his sight on the presidency for years, Villar picked people from various persuasions and political beliefs to form his ticket for the May presidential elections, from the extreme left to the extreme right, in pursuit of Amang’s and the Nacionalista Party’s political philosophy.
Villar would make a pact with the Devil himself and give him a slot in his senatorial line-up if that’s what it would take for him to win the presidency. Fortunately, the Devil himself is apparently not interested in politics and would rather just give his blessing to Villar’s coalition.
Like the lady he wants to replace in Malacanang, Villar is pursuing another popular political philosophy to achieve his lifetime goal. The philosophy, more sophisticated but very similar to Amang’s stand, is that of Machiavelli, who said in so many words that “the end justifies the means.”
The last time the Nacionalista Party pursued the political philosophies of Amang and Machiavelli to wrest back control of the government from the Liberals, the country was plunged into its darkest years. Then Senate President Ferdinand Marcos was one of the rising stars of the Liberals when the NP offered to take him as its standard bearer in the 1965 presidential elections.
Marcos handily defeated incumbent President Diosdado Macapagal of the LP in 1965 and LP standard bearer Sen. Sergio Osmena Jr. in 1969 and then declared martial law in 1972, a year before the scheduled elections in 1973, where he was constitutionally barred from running and where the very popular Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. or LP president Sen. Gerry Roxas were heavily favored to give back the presidency to the Liberals.
It was easier then to follow Amang’s politics of addition. There was only the Liberal Party to subtract from. But in the current multi-party set-up, Villar had to take one or two from each political party or grouping to make the numbers add up to the presidency.
And so, the NP has become a coalition of sorts, not any different from the administration merger among the Lakas, Kampi and the Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD). But if the Lakas-Kampi-CMD was a coalition of like-minded or similarly-skinned politicians whose greed and hunger for power never seems to be satisfied, Villar’s coalition is a puzzling blend of leftists, rightists, putschists, nationalists, opportunists, traditional politicians, scions of entrenched political dynasties, an actor and a namesake and scion of the late dictator himself.
Villar’ spokesman, Rep. Gilbert Remmulla, a member of the NP senatorial ticket himself, said his standard bearer’s ability to unite all sectors of the Philippine society shows that Villar is capable of uniting the nation in his fight against poverty.
The problem with this unlikely unity is that the reason these candidates are running under the NP ticket is exactly the same reason Villar has assembled them – to win at all cost.
Party-list Reps. Satur Ocampo and Liza Masa, both nationalists and leftists, are obviously in the line-up as a tactical move to achieve a strategic objective – a popular Mao teaching – to carry their parliamentary struggle to a higher level. They are not comfortable with being in the same line-up as Col. Ariel Querubin, a rightist military rebel, and Gov. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the dictator Ocampo fought and suffered for years, but that would do for now as long as the long-term objective is achieved.
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, an ally of all the sitting presidents in the post-Marcos era, except, of course, former President Fidel V. Ramos, who she hates to death because of her narrow defeat to him in 1992, would be comfortable in any line-up, but Villar’s has the biggest war chest so she’s in, too. Lawyer Adel Tamano used to be former President Joseph Estrada’s spokesman, but nothing was certain with Erap and so he is in Villar’s ticket.
The same is true with Sen. Bong Revilla, an ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He is not with Lakas standard bearer Gilbert Teodoro because he knew the latter’s winning chances are very slim.
And Sen. Loren Legarda, NP’s vice presidential candidate? She flirted with all the presidential candidates and could not even say with whom she was running with until the very last minute when she was certain Villar had the best chance of winning among those willing to take her in. If that’s not opportunism, I don’t know what is!
In other words, most of these candidates running with Villar have their own agenda and reason for joining his ticket, leaving it with no unifying principle or platform, just an empty pledge to fight poverty. Arroyo also pledged to fight poverty in all her nine years in Malacanang, but pursued anti-people policies that only aggravated poverty.
The problem with Amang’s – and now Villar’s – politics of addition is that there is no discrimination as to what the chosen candidates have to offer to the common good, but only to what they can offer to the goal of winning the presidency. Villar was willing, much in the spirit of Machiavelli, to sacrifice principles and a common platform for political exigency, not much different from the president he wishes to succeed.
Villar has raised the levels of political opportunism, which does not bode well for a nation grappling for political reforms and crying for change.
