Realpolitik

In this season of brazen lying and disinformation, it’s refreshing to hear a politician telling it like it is, without frills, without a cushion to give his message a soft landing.

The message, unfortunately, reinforces cynical perceptions about the state of Philippine politics.

I’m referring to Davao del Norte 1st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, saying his Partido Reporma party jumped ship, from Sen. Panfilo Lacson to Vice President Leni Robredo, because Senator Ping couldn’t seem to attain buoyancy in the surveys, and the former House speaker’s constituency could end up neglected in the next administration if the party backed a loser.

On One News’ “The Chiefs” last Thursday, we pressed Alvarez for additional reasons, apart from pragmatism, for his jump to the VP’s camp.

After a pause, he said that, well, there’s the need to prevent Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from becoming president. As a student, Alvarez said he had joined protests against the Marcos dictatorship. Today there’s a chance, he said, that VP Leni, in her Round 2 with Bongbong Marcos, can beat him again, even if he’s currently the frontrunner in the presidential race.

My reading is that the original answer to our question on why Alvarez moved from Ping to pink, as the switch has been called, is the more accurate explanation.

It’s a pretty common attitude among politicians in our country, based on the realities of a system that vests immense powers on the president of the republic.

In principle, the three branches of government are supposed to be co-equal and independent, providing checks and balances to each other. Congress deliberates on and approves the annual budget, and has the power to impeach a president.

In reality, the executive has the power of the purse; the budget department, on orders of Malacañang, can sit on the release of funds to congressional districts. Presidential allies get priority in development projects.

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Local government units, although enjoying a degree of autonomy, must also toe the executive’s line. This year the Supreme Court ruling giving LGUs a much larger share in national revenues went into effect. But in reaction to the ruling, the executive also devolved more services to the LGUs, so the larger internal revenue allotment will simply go to additional local government expenditures. There’s no free lunch here; LGUs got more work and more responsibilities to go with the larger IRA.

So politicians with a local constituency must pick a winner in a presidential race. They will call it pragmatism; others may call it opportunism.

Alvarez and his party will continue supporting Lacson’s running mate, Senate President Tito Sotto, instead of Robredo’s VP bet, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan.

Sotto is the strongest challenger to Marcos’ running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who by most accounts engineered Alvarez’s ouster as speaker and replacement with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Asked how he disclosed his defection to the kakampinks to Lacson, Alvarez told us that he sent a text message, although he said he had dropped broad hints about his plan to Senator Ping two weeks or so ago.

Lacson’s reaction to the divorce text message was to announce the next day that he was resigning as chairman of Reporma and running as an independent, as he has done in the past.

He said Reporma had not been supporting him in his campaign for some time. Alvarez denied this, insisting to us that Reporma did try, they did, they did, but Lacson was simply too heavy to carry.

On Friday, Lacson said Alvarez and his group bolted after failing to get from him P800 million for the campaign. Alvarez also denied this. It’s plausible though that his group would have asked for funds to carry out a campaign not just for Lacson and Sotto but also for the other candidates down to the local races.

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Over at the kakampinks, VP Leni clearly is also pragmatic enough to believe that politics is addition and there are no permanent enemies in Philippine politics.

The defection of Alvarez and his party to the Robredo camp has raised hopes that other groups will follow suit. If their standard bearers won’t back a common candidate, the groups can jettison their standard bearers and coalesce with the kakampinks.

Alvarez brings with him Mindanao votes that Robredo needs. Following his ouster as speaker, Alvarez got his revenge on Inday Sara in 2019, when his candidates in Davao routed all the bets backed by the mayor. Robredo’s camp surely recognizes the importance of that kind of clout right in the Duterte heartland.

So a beaming VP Leni was there as Alvarez and his team were presented at a press conference organized by the kakampinks.

Lacson is no newbie in politics so the development should not have completely surprised him, especially in this election season wherein political parties have completely lost their relevance.

With political parties no longer standing for anything and their loyalties shape-shifting like an amoeba, personality-driven politics is becoming even more deeply entrenched.

Politicians we have talked to ask what the fuss is about, noting that jumping from one camp to another and cherry-picking from different parties the candidates to support have been going on since the first general elections after the 1986 people power revolt.

When the dust settles after a presidential race, only two parties are left: those of the winner and the loser. Almost always, the losing party rapidly turns into a “Volkswagen party” – one whose membership can fit inside a Beetle – as everyone jumps to the winning camp.

Almost always, the new president is pragmatic enough to understand that the wider the support, no matter how belated, the easier governance can be. So all party switchers are welcome.

Such is realpolitik in the Philippines. In time, reforms might be introduced, but clearly, this won’t happen in the current race.