Times for trapos' tactical turncoatism

Unlike the Americans who are born Democrats or Republicans, live as such permanently, and die under the same party, Filipino traditional politicians change their party affiliations as often as they change their T-shirts. Their politics are not based on principles, much less on values and ideologies, but on political convenience and selfish interests. Like the so-called UniTeam between BBM and Duterte, all shady alliances collapse the very moment the rubber hits the road.

We should be ashamed that we are being led by spineless trapos, palpably dominated by family dynasties, apparently funded by big business and even possibly supported by vested interests, including foreign business investors. The alliance between the administration's ragtag Partido Federal Ng Pilipinas and the Villar political arm, the largely-distorted Nacionalista Party, is the latest indication that in this country, any group can come together without a common set of shared values. This latest marriage of convenience is the latest concoction of petty trapos, in addition to Federal's alliances with Lakas CMD, with NPC and with NUP. There is no unifying value that binds all these traditional parties together.

No one can explain to us what binding principle has ever united these trapos' political vehicles. Nothing but the partisan goal of assuring victory in the 2025 mid-term elections by establishing a monolith to create a monopoly among trapos who aspire to perpetuate themselves and their family dynasties in power. The founder of Federal is an unknown entity, a certain John Castriciones and its alleged president, one Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. and these two do not seem to have any national following. The Nacionalista Party of Villar is, by all appearances, no longer the original and genuine NP founded by Don Sergio Osmeña Sr.

The Lakas CMD is the principal political vehicle of Speaker Martin Romualdez and his original fairy godmother, GMA. I do not see any congruence of principles between Lakas CMD and Federal. The NPC is the party originally founded by the late Danding Cojuangco. Its current chairman is Tito Sotto and president is Jack Duavit. In fact, the original party of Senate President Chiz Escudero is the NPC. Apart from partisan horse trading and symbiotic accommodation, there is nothing which is principle-based that unify NPC and Federal. The alliances forged by Federal and these parties are palpably intended to unify the forces of BBM against the Dutertes.

The NUP is the political group of such politicians as Ronaldo Puno, Romeo Acop, DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, and other politicians like one congressman from Cebu, L-Ray Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, Lorna Silverio of Bulacan, and Adolf Plaza of Agusan del Sur. There is no perceptible common principle or value that can be considered to bind Partido Federal and NUP. Nothing at all. Related to all these is the move to unify the Visayas governors in support of the administration. It is not entirely impossible to imagine that all these strange convergences are being orchestrated by the Palace political strategists and tacticians, expectedly so as to totally demolish the chances of the Dutertes and other oppositions in 2025, in preparation for 2028.

All these developments continue to weaken our democracy and can only serve the narrow interests of parochial trapos who do not love the country and do not have the peoples' interests in mind. At the end of the day, only the political dynasties can benefit from these political maneuverings. When all the powerful trapos come together and win their electoral fights, the people lose all their hopes for a better future. May the Lord bless the Philippines.