Whenever I read about or watch on television the proceedings of the upper chamber of the US Congress, one word is always at the back of mind. That word is ‘supermajority.’ As any person conversant with contemporary Philippine politics knows, supermajority refers to the informal coalition of political parties that decided, following the announcement of the results of the 2016 Presidential election, to ally themselves with the administration of newly elected Rodrigo Duterte.
Why do I think of the Duterte supermajority whenever I read about or watch the Democratic faction of the US Senate? Because the actions, demeanor and utterances of the non-PDP Laban parties in the House of Representatives could not be more different than those of the Democratic Party members of the US Senate. Indeed, the contrast could not be starker.
The sequence of events in the House of Representatives following theelectoral victory of the standard-bearer of the PDP Laban Party was entirely predictable. The nation had witnessed it countless times in the political history of this country. It was totally a case of déjà vu.
As in past immediately-after-the-election instances, the winning candidates for Representative of the parties that opposed PDP Laban in the election – the Liberal Party, the Nacionalista Party, NPC (National People’s Coalition), Lakas-NUCD, KBL and KAMPI – lost no time becoming members of Mr. Duterte’s party. After the breakdown of the two-party (Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party) system following the EDSA Revolution, newly elected Representatives belonging to the parties of the unsuccessful Presidential candidates habitually switched, in quick fashion, to the party of the victorious Presidential candidate. Thus, virtually all the members of the Batasang Pambansa – the sole exceptions were the courageous Assemblymen belonging to UNIDO – were members of President Ferdinand Marcos’ KBL. And winning candidates in the succeeding elections lost no time taking oaths as members of Lakas-NUCD-UMD after Fidel Ramos’s 1992 victory, as members of Partido ng Masa after Joseph Ejercito Estrada’s 1998 victory, as members of KAMPI after Gloria Arroyo’s assumption of the Presidency in 2004 and as members of the Liberal Party after Benigno Aquino III’s victory in 2010.
What happened to the tenets of the parties whose colors the switching Representatives wore in the electoral combat? And what about their personal beliefs and platforms? Like the skins that are shed by snakes, those were shed when the defeat of their party’s standard-bearer was announced.
Let us now compare the actuations and behavior of the House of Representatives of the current Congress with the actuations and behavior of the Democratic members of the current US Senate. The contrast, to repeat, couldn’t be starker.
Among the 49 Democratic members of the 100-member upper chamber of the US Congress there was absolutely no party-switching upon the announcement of the defeat of their party’s standard-bearer, Hillary Clinton, by Donald Trump. The 49 men and women, led by New York Senator Chuck Schumer, have remained solid, united and unflinching. In the process they have derailed or stalled the legislative proposals of the Trump administration, especially those sufficiently important to necessitate 60 affirmative votes. On issue after issue – immigration, health care, taxation and trade – the lacent and patriotic Democratic members of the US Senate have placed society above self and national interest above personal politics.
A true and functioning democracy requires the existence of at least two groups of individuals that discuss, argue about and debate legislative proposals with the best interest of the nation – not personal interest – in mind. How can such discussion and debate take place when, at the beginning of every new administration, victorious candidates use one hand to take the oath of membership of another party and use the other hand to receive the material rewards of such party-switching?
I dare say that the glaring contrast between the kind of government represented by the US Senate and the kind of government represented by the present House of Representatives supermajority goes a long way to explain why the US is in the First World and the Philippines is mired in the Third World.
E-mail: romero.busines.class@gmail.com
