An anarchy of parties

Look at our multiparty system. Are you now thoroughly confused? You are not alone.

Vice President Sara Duterte is campaigning for reelectionist Sen. Imee Marcos, telling voters that she’s a different Marcos (and Romualdez), as well as Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar of the Nacionalista Party.

The NP remains part of President Marcos’ Alyansa coalition. Unlike Ate Imee, Villar has not formally bolted the Alyansa. Her reelectionist NP party mate Sen. Pia Cayetano remains with the coalition. Senator Pia’s brother Sen. Alan Peter, who isn’t running, has joined Imee in criticizing the turnover of Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court.

Former president Duterte himself has not issued any statement endorsing Senator Imee, who after all is a Romualdez-Marcos. Duterte diehard supporters or DDS also continue to bash Senator Imee on suspicion that she is merely, in so many words, a Trojan horse of the Marcos camp.

Instead Tatay Digong has publicly endorsed the bids of two independent bets, ex-military officers Gregorio Honasan and Ariel Querubin. Duterte has also asked his daughter the VP to campaign for the so-called Duter10 of his party the PDP-Laban.

The strong-willed VP, who has become a dutiful daughter since her father landed behind bars in The Hague, has promised to heed the request.

Over in the traditional opposition, former vice president Leni Robredo has endorsed (to the dismay of a number of her supporters) the Senate bids of two Alyansa bets, former interior secretary Benhur Abalos and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao. The two have been good to her, according to Robredo, who is a shoo-in for mayor of her bailiwick Naga City.

She had first publicly endorsed the bids of traditional opposition allies Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan. Rumors refuse to die down that the two are being adopted by the Alyansa as guest candidates, in place of Senator Imee and Camille Villar.

Robredo and Pangilinan belong to the Liberal Party. Aquino has launched a new party, the Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino.

Meanwhile, the progressive groups in the party-list race are defending Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s forced delivery of his promised P20-a-kilo rice, which has drawn snide remarks from the DDS camp.

VP Sara, apparently buoyed by survey results showing her as the most trusted among the nation’s top officials, has started campaigning against her staunch critics in the progressive groups.

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The multiparty system, like the party-list, has become a farce. This anarchy of parties has added to voter confusion over the choices during elections.

People who remember pre-martial law politics warn those pushing for a return to a two-party system to be careful what they wish for. They note that even when the country had only the Liberal and Nacionalista parties, the two were really different only in name, with no distinct positions on issues.

The LP in fact branched out from the NP in January 1946 not because the breakaway wing espoused liberal ideals, but mainly because Manuel Roxas and Elpidio Quirino wanted to be the NP bets for president and VP, respectively. Instead the NP picked Sergio Osmeña and Eulogio Rodriguez. The Roxas-Quirino tandem under the newly organized LP won.

With two dominant parties in existence, party-switching was not uncommon, with even presidential wannabes – notably Ferdinand Marcos the elder – jumping to whichever party would support their aspirations.

The political lines became clearly drawn and parties presented clear-cut positions on raging issues only during the Marcos dictatorship, when “FM” organized the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan and the opposition groups banded together for LABAN (fight) or Lakas ng Bayan.

But is the current multiparty alternative, enshrined in the 1987 “Freedom Constitution” any better? Doesn’t it look so much worse?

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At least when there were only two main parties, the president and vice president received their mandates from the majority. This tends to have a stabilizing effect post-election, which can make governance easier.

Party members pre-martial law also knew each other pretty well and picked among themselves leaders based on competence rather than populist appeal. Most of those who sought high public office at the time were truly among the nation’s best and brightest, and the cream naturally rose to the top of the party. Such folks would not countenance having a dullard or ex-convict as party leader.

Sure, elections were still personality-driven, but at least the personalities who ran for office at the time did not bank merely on populist appeal. And with the quality of Philippine education still the envy of the region, Pinoy voters knew better than to send buffoons to high office.

Today any person who can play cute on multiple media platforms or can expertly take personal credit for doling out tax-funded public aid programs can win high office. Political party? It’s not a requirement for seeking elective office. And anyway, a political party can be created at the drop of a hat, and dissolved as soon as the elections are over.

The bastardization of the party-list has also expanded the ranks of incompetents, plunderers and snake oil salesmen in Congress.

This state of affairs has reinforced personality-driven, transactional politics. Overhauling the system, unfortunately, will require rewriting the Constitution – something that cannot be entrusted at this point to the ex-allies who currently dominate Philippine politics, and who are now locked in a war of attrition.

Can the broken party system be fixed? Will we have to wait for things to get worse before they get better?

I know people who are starting to seriously discuss viable ways of effecting meaningful change without waiting for the country to first hit rock bottom. If we know the problem, we should be able to find a solution. There’s always hope for our country.