The minority party now, the Liberal Party, which should counter-balance President Du30’s super majority, is now being decimated. Leila De Lima is now in jail, and from all indications, the political protest of Senator Bongbong Marcos who contends he was cheated last election out of the vice presidency might become irrelevant as the impeachment move against Vice President Robredo is going on in earnest. Koko Pimentel might end up being the vice president.
Of course the President is saying things to make it appear he is against the vice president’s ouster, but that is how politicians are. They have to have a mastery on how to pull off a double talk and still remain credible to the eyes of the people.
The reason why the President still appears to have the support of the masses is his apparent siding with the masses. He put up the complaint center 8888, extended the validity of passports and drivers’ licenses, tolerated and is spouting support for the moves of DENR Sec. Gina Lopez in closing mining operations that are destroying watersheds and the removal of fish pens at the Laguna de Bay which reduced to only a minuscule area the fishing grounds of the ordinary fisher folk there, he is always talking of his war against illegal drugs which caused a very substantial drop in criminality everywhere, his war against corruption in the bureaucracy from which the people have been reeling since time immemorial, etcetera, etcetera.
And the people believe the President because they are enjoying some of the things he delivered such as the very easy way to complain against incompetent bureaucrats by calling 8888.
As a result so many are just letting Du30 get away with his “kanto boy” or unpresidential shortcomings.
The moral of the story is, it is still the people who can ensure a president’s stay in Malacanang. Don’t take care about their cares and they might send you packing to Hawaii as what the Marcoses did in 1986.
So the hope of the Liberal Party is the support of the masses. But that party’s members did not do enough during the past administration. Corruption became so bad and the citizens were so helpless. Everything was breaking down including the MRT and the LRT and all the Liberal Party stalwarts could do was to just utter “Daang Matuwid.” In short, the Liberal Party members lacked the “killer instinct” to get the bureaucrats and the bureaucracy moving pronto in the interest of the people– which was and is still the urgent need in this country.
It is a lesson that has been clear on the wall through the ages. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, with all the controversies surrounding him, once said something to the effect that if you have been supportive of the people…. they will also end up being supportive of you.**