Former film actor and Philippines president Joseph “Erap” Estrada may well have been perturbed to find that Edu Manzano, another former popular actor and an ex-television game show host (his credits include the country’s version of The Weakest Link), who he had included in his Senate slate for this May’s elections, was also considered as candidate of the rival Liberal Party. It is also possible that the mouths of Estrada – who has confirmed his intention to try to regain the presidency this year – and Liberal presidential contender Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III both fell open when it was announced that Manzano would, after all, be running as the vice-presidential candidate of the current ruling party, Lakas Kampi CMD.
It is possible, but not likely. This is a society where alliances between mainstream political parties and even parties themselves are constructed, not on the basis of principles, but as vehicles for personal advancement.
Juan T Gatbonton, editorial consultant for the Manila Times, summed it up on November 23 last year when he wrote: “Our elections are not contests over public-policy alternatives, but struggles for political power – and the perquisites of office. We have no political grouping big enough, unified enough and stable enough to think of the national interest.”
The defection of Manzano is not the only one Erap has suffered. Adel Tamano, previously a spokesman for Estrada’s ill-named United Opposition, has chosen to run for the Senate on the slate of Manuel “Manny” Villar’s Nacionalista Party. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of the martial-law president, was unveiled as a member of Estrada’s slate at a rally in October, only to switch to the Nacionalista stable a month later. Anointed at the same Estrada rally was Danny Lim, a senior military officer who was confined to quarters for his alleged role in a 2006 coup attempt. He has switched to the Liberal slate.
Five of the 10 presidents since Philippines independence in 1946 have switched parties to secure election, while others have formed their own political vehicles – so this is hardly a new phenomenon. It used to be the case, however, that congressmen and other local officials tended to switch sides after an election rather than before, acknowledging their error in judgement by moving swiftly to the side of the official controlling the dispensation of patronage – whether they were the president, the provincial governor or the local mayor.
That has changed somewhat during Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s years in power. The period preceding the mid-term elections of 2007 was characterised by numerous recruitment raids launched by Kampi, Arroyo’s electoral vehicle, on the ranks of the rival Lakas – even though both were part of the same governing coalition.
Although these two parties subsequently merged in preparation for this year’s elections, they have suffered a haemorrhage in support as, with Arroyo barred under the constitution from standing for another presidential term, local officials have made a shameless exit.
During a six-week period from October to December last year, the press reported that the governor of Davao del Sur province had left Lakas-Kampi to join the Nacionalistas, taking 57 local executives with him. In Camarines Sur province, the governor and vice-governor, eight provincial board members, nine mayors, 13 vice-mayors, 264 councillors and 720 local ward representatives made the same transition, as did a further 600 local officials, sworn in by Nacionalista leader Villar on November 18. In the same period, the Liberals gained Quezon City mayor Francisco Belmonte (Lakas-Kampi’s vice-president for external affairs) and his vice-mayor, along with what were said to be “thousands” of members in Davao del Norte province, led by the governor.
By this stage, according to Lakas-Kampi senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, as many as 30 to 40 per cent of Lakas-Kampi members (in mainstream parties, virtually the only members are office-holders or aspirants to office) had defected to the Nacionalistas or the Liberals.
Possibly the most outrageous mass conversion took place – twice – in the island province of Bohol last June when, taking advantage of governor Erico Aumentado’s absence , Manny Villar flew in and swore 25 town mayors into the Nacionalista Party. Within days, Aumentado called them together and promptly swore them back into Lakas-Kampi, warning that they could only be guaranteed resources if they were allied with the ruling administration.
In this situation, not even God plays it straight. Early on, the Almighty supposedly told Brother Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord church to run for the presidency, despite his poor showing last time around. In July last year, “priest on leave” Ed Panlilio, currently governor of Pampanga province, announced that, after “a period of discernment”, he could see that God was “calling me to run for the presidency”. Then, in September, Noynoy Aquino let it be known that he was going on a retreat in order to pray for divine guidance. Following this, for a brief period – before Panlilio bowed out in favour of Aquino – God had three prospective candidates on his books.
But if God has instructed any of the nine 2010 presidential candidates to campaign on the basis of breaking with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund-imposed neo-liberal economic model that has brought mass poverty to the Philippines, they are keeping quiet about it.
