‘The truth is, loyalties are tested every day, and almost at every test, it is the public interest that loses.’
MY loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins.”
So (we are told) intoned Manuel Luis Quezon in 1922 in a speech before a party convention. Quezon stressed that it was to the will of the people rather than to the conduct of a party that an elected public official owes his loyalty.
With the 2025 elections virtually all over, except for a few more ballots to be canvassed and certified, I wonder: how many of those who are now swimming in the emotions of victory will be happy to repeat what MLQ said? And how many of those who repeat his words will live by them?
A lot of post-election talk I’ve been hearing centers around the impact of the endorsement by the Iglesia Ni Cristo on the race to the Senate, particularly in the battle for the bottom six spots out of the 12 being contested.
The INC claims to have a voting bloc five million strong, but I think it’s between a low of three and a high of four. Let’s take the lower number: three million. It’s a significant number for close electoral contests that can be determined by a handful of votes. And this can be seen in the 2025 partial and unofficial Senate election results: Take out three million from the tallies of Bong Go, Bam Aquino, Bato dela Rosa, Kiko Pangilinan, Camille Villar, Pia Cayetano and Imee Marcos and you’ll have a different Senate.
The question now is: to whom do these seven owe their highest loyalty? Should an issue come to the fore – no matter how unlikely – that pits the interests of the INC against the interests of the greater majority, with whom will these seven take side?
Other political situations arise where the loyalty dilemma rears its head. Imagine a political family leading it over a province or a district, or an LGU. No one gets elected without their blessing. Cross them and that’s the end of your political career.
So, imagine a situation where again such an issue arises: a clash between the interests of the political family and the greater interests of the LGU, the district, the province, or even the country.
Whose side will the local politico take – the side of the political family to which he owes his political existence? Or the side of the greater majority, the public that voted him into office?
Our political history is strewn with political careers that have come to a crashing end because the politician chose to subsume the interests of his patron to the greater interest, effectively writing his political obituary. Of course, those who happily and loyally act out their role as factotum see their political careers continue, if not flourish. Never mind if the public interest demands that they do the opposite.
Public office is a public trust – so it should be clear as day to whom a public official owes ultimate loyalty. There should be no loyalty dilemma.
But in the real world, I’m being naive.
The truth is, loyalties are tested every day, and almost at every test, it is the public interest that loses.
