"The difference is the same"

As lawyer Eddie Barrita used to say, “the difference is the same.” Well, I really do not know if it was Eddie who actually coined that phrase. But he is such a rich source of quotes that I automatically attribute to him those whose original sources I can no longer remember.

I use “the difference is the same” to describe the “daang matuwid” or straight and narrow path style of governance of President Aquino because, no matter how he tries to differentiate his style from those that have gone before, nothing has really changed.

Take the case of what is happening to his Liberal Party. In case you have not noticed, it is well on its way to bursting at the seams. There is a head-long rush all across the nation to jump into the Liberal Party bandwagon.

In Cebu, almost everybody wants to be a Liberal Party member. Now, do not get me wrong. I have nothing against the Liberal Party. It is just that the rush to join it does not appear to me to be a manifestation of some great change going on in the way we play our politics.

Instead, what it tells me is that the old practice of turncoatism, of joining whichever is the party in power, is very much alive. Worse, it is very clear that Aquino is very well aware of what is going on but is not doing anything to stop it.

Aquino, unless he is particularly dense, cannot pretend to view these mass defections as a sign of a massive reform sweeping across the country, of politicians trying to shed their old selves and jumping onto the Liberal Party machine as newly-cleansed spirits.

What is going on is pure and simple grabbing of opportunity, of spineless opportunists not wanting to be left out of the larder. That is why I have developed a very dim view of those who have recently sworn new allegiances to become fledgling Liberals.

If these people truly wanted to be Liberals, why the heck did they not choose to be Liberals long before Aquino became president. The Liberal Party was founded in 1946. That means it has been there waiting all along for members for 66 long years.

So why the mad dash to become members only now? Forgive me, but I think there is only one answer to that. Politicians want to become Liberal Party members only now because it is only now that it is back in power.

I would not be surprised if many of those who are making a beeline to the Liberal Party doorstep are not former Liberal Party members who bolted the party when the tides of political fortunes shifted.

Of course this is the reality of Philippine politics. And of course I would not have minded had not Aquino established very clear parameters that delineated which are the discredited practices of old and which are the practices to be emulated under “daang matuwid.”

So please correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think Aquino can go on mouthing his mantra about fighting corruption and yet say nothing, or worse, turn a blind eye to one of the most corruptive practices in Philippine politics — turncoatism.

Corruption does not only involve money. In fact, a far worse form of corruption is that which corrupts and deadens the character and core of a person. Money corruption may stop when no money is given. But a corrupted soul is dead forever.

And that is the reason why I say that, as far as the Aquino administration is concerned, “the difference is the same.” Its “daang matuwid” concept merely pays lip service to the notion of fighting corruption. To Aquino, what is corrupt for others may not necessarily apply to him.