NOW that political parties or groupings are all going the way of division instead of consolidation, we know that the elections are near.
First, the nascent opposition group 1Sambayan created by retired Justice Antonio Carpio showed fractious squabble with Carpio himself, Vice President Leonor Robredo and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV trying to elbow out each other for the “nomination” as to who should face the Duterte candidate in 2022.
Trillanes made it known that Robredo has shown interest in running for governor of her province, and that should she decide not to run for the presidency, it should be him to carry the opposition banner in the next national elections. This received an early retort from Robredo’s camp saying that the VP is still open to offers to run for the highest position.
‘By his lonesome, Duterte himself convened a top-level meeting through Cusi for the members to convince himself to run for a particular position.’
Most laughable, as it is concerning, is the series of events occurring in swift succession in the so-called “ruling” party, the PDP-Laban, which by all indications may be aptly referred to as the “mis-ruling party” with the way it conducts business and governance.
Shorn of its original democratic and anti-dictatorship principles, the PDP-Laban is now a motley group of political animals whose leaders (the Dutertes) are lovey-dovey with rehabilitated leaders with the Marcos surname. “Laban” as half-a-name for this party is as much as an oxymoron, as it is moronic. What could Ninoy Aquino and Nene Pimentel have said on this?
Well, the PDP-Laban’s National Council Meeting that should effect unity and consolidate the political forces of the Duterte camp was fractious from the start. It was announced by non-party member Harry Roque, presidential spox, that the Chief Executive ordered vice chairman Secretary Cusi to convene the national council meeting and he did so, without advising party president Sen. Manny Pacquiao. He was piqued, of course, and called for party members to boycott the meeting, which was held in Cebu on Monday, May 31.
While the officers and members of the PDP-Laban are fighting among themselves on how to follow their own rules, the just-concluded national council meeting to prepare the party for a general assembly passed a resolution urging President Rodrigo Duterte to run for Vice President, conscious of the constitutional prohibition on Presidents taking a shot at the same position.
Your slip is showing then, PDP-Laban. Let us not dance around: By his lonesome, Duterte himself convened a top-level meeting through Cusi for the members to convince himself to run for a particular position. No wonder the ambitious Pacquiao is peeved.
And that, folks, is a preview of what to expect in 2022.
