Unsettling a settled issue
Opposition senatorial candidates want to engage their administration rivals in a debate. One administration bet, former PNP chief Ronald "Bato" de la Rosa, new to the ways of politics, quickly took the bait and accepted. He should decline. It is never a shame to change one's mind. In fact, only fools do not.
The challenge to a debate is a trap. There is nothing to debate about in the midterm elections for those who are running in it. A midterm election is usually a referendum on how the current president is doing. And as far as Rodrigo Duterte is concerned, the issues that concern him have long been settled.
These issues will not be up for another debate until the end of his term, when his anointed successor will be challenged by those who seek to take over. If Duterte does well to the very end, then it will be a breeze for his chosen one, whether in debate or in actual poll. But if the stars of Duterte fade and fall, then his bet will be eaten alive, in argument and in mandate.
So Bato, and all the rest of his colleagues in the administration ticket, should shun any debate, especially face-to-face engagements covered live by media. Not that they cannot carry themselves well in any forum, but it will be a useless exercise that can only undeservedly benefit the opposition.
Moreover, it is no secret what the opposition wants to debate about. The opposition knows of no other topics except martial law, Marcos, and lost freedoms. But what a bunch of nincompoops they are for wanting to engage anyone in a debate. Don't they realize that they themselves are the biggest arguments against their own proposition?
Look at them. In the few times that they think positive, they brand themselves as the heroes of EDSA, or at least relatives of those who figured prominently not just in the ouster of Marcos but in dismantling his dictatorship and restoring freedom. But if they are all what they claim to be, what the heck are they still whining about, 33 years later?
The problem with the yellow opposition is that they have arrogated unto themselves the sole claim to what happened at EDSA in 1986. They think it was just an Aquino thing, forgetting that neither Ninoy nor Cory, and much less Noynoy, would have been what they became had not the people, by their own actions and decisions, made things happen for this country.
Let us not change the facts of history. The revolutionary mood was not out of love for Ninoy but hate for Marcos. Cory was installed after EDSA was already set in motion by Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos. As for Noynoy, he was, as his mother before him, installed as the less regrettable of the available choices. Yellow has long faded into the white of new beginnings.
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