Party absence dictates political developments

The biggest setback that Philippine democracy is undergoing is the total lack of traditional political parties. There was a time when we had a two-party system and each party had an independent program from each other. A politician could shift from one party to another without publicly acknowledging the fact that he has had a change in his strongly-held beliefs. Now one can change form one party to another and the usual explanation is that he is changing his personal stand from one political figure to another.

Presidential candidates have agreed on holding a national debate. We hope that, first, they have reached an accord on what they will be debating about, meaning that they have reached a consensus on the main socio-economic problems facing the country at this point in time. The debate should be on the solutions that the individual candidates will present as their solutions to our problems. If they are not even in accord as to what the problems are, then, we can’t see how they can conduct an intelligent debate.

As we earlier said, we only had two parties in the past. But the national issues were clear. Now, we can’t even be sure how many political parties are involved in this coming elections. The way we see it, there is even a presidential candidate that is running as an individual.

The best lesson we can learn from this election is that we have to restore, organize and strengthen our political parties. And that should begin by the political parties having a platform and a program of government. The parties, of course, should be national. Their platforms should not be a collection of motherhood statements. There was a time when parties were distinguished by their being pro or anti major national issues. Meaning, less mottoes have replaced those old guiding principles. Now, they say para sa bayan, ang bayan ang bida and para sa masa. But have things actually improved?

Elections is still months away and at this point in time, all we can do is to know as much about the candidates as we can. Then, we must vote for the candidates who we believe are most qualified to serve the country, of if none meets our requirements, then we will have to support the candidates we believe will be the lesser evil. These are hard times. We must hope for the best but be prepared for whatever may come.

The more I follow political development, the more confused I become. A newspaper, The Tribune, predicted months ago that Vice-President Teofisto Guingona would abandon President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for Fernando Poe, Jr. It sounded incredible then. Now, it is a fact and one bothers to even try to explain the rationale – if there is any. Now Ping Lacson and FPJ are supposed to be negotiating. I can’t believe that either of them will withdraw from the presidential race. But it seems as if today, anything can happen.