“The hijacking of the party for self-serving ends offers ample proof that Philippine politics has been turned upside down.”
We were part of a small campaign team of Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.—two writers and a photojournalist—in his bid for the vice presidency in 1992 under the banner of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) with Jovito Salonga as the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party. We were recruited by another PDP-Laban leader, the late Bobbit Sanchez, a human rights lawyer appointed by President Cory Aquino as Labor Secretary but later replaced because he took his job seriously. Too seriously, in fact, because he always sided with labor instead of employers at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
We were utterly disappointed with the result of that election, which was won by former Philippine Constabulary Chief Gen. Fidel V. Ramos by the slimmest of margins. Salonga wound up in sixth place in a field of seven, while Pimentel took fifth place among seven candidates, indicating that the electorate was not inclined to support their pro-democracy platform just six years after Edsa People Power.
Fast forward to 2016, when former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency and became the chairman of the PDP-Laban simply because he won the top elective post and not because he really believed in the party’s democratic principles. We have a sneaking suspicion that he has not even read the party’s constitution to this day, and if he did, he did not understand at all what it stood for.
Definitely worse is the fact that in the next six years of his term, the former Davao City Mayor would completely trash the political party’s firm resolve to uphold human rights, due process and the rule of law in this country with his bloody war on illegal drugs and wanton killing of activists, lawyers and other critics of his administration.
But the worst and much more abhorrent development is that Duterte, through his minions, has used the PDP-Laban as a battering ram against our democracy by endorsing the presidential bid of Bongbong Marcos, the son of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., whose draconian rule from 1972 to 1986 led to the arrest and detention of the party’s co-founder, Nene Pimentel Jr. not just once, nor twice, but three times.
Nene Pimentel envisioned the PDP-Laban in 1982 as a political vehicle to bring under one roof those genuinely interested in contributing to the theory and practice of democracy in the country and in educating Filipinos on their duties and responsibilities in protecting our hard-won freedoms.
But the interlopers who managed to worm their way into the party’s highest echelons created a faction that now wants another Marcos to succeed Duterte, thus raising the dire prospect of another round of strongman rule reminiscent of the martial law years and Duterte’s own brand of regressive politics.
The hijacking of PDP-Laban for self-serving ends offers ample proof that Philippine politics has been turned upside down. Its endorsement of Marcos Jr. is yet another stab at the heart of Philippine democracy that threatens to further narrow down the democratic space created by People Power in 1986 that overthrew dictatorial rule and forced Marcos Sr. and his family into forced exile in Hawaii.
Listen to what Nene Pimentel’s widow had to say about the PDP-Laban endorsement of Marcos Jr.: “As a witness to the creation of PDP-Laban, my heart weeps and I feel sorry for our country…The thieves who stole the nation’s coffers have also stolen PDP-Laban, which was created by the blood and sacrifice of people like Nene Pimentel, Ninoy Aquino and Lorenzo Tañada, and shamelessly used it to support the candidacy of a person who does not deserve to be the president of our country.”
More: “I am praying and calling on all those voting for Bongbong Marcos to study carefully and not play deaf and blind to the truth, which shows that Bongbong Marcos has been ‘weighed but found wanting’ of the qualities to become president…I pray that this shall not happen because the nation will suffer and we will all suffer,” she pointed out.
For Sen. Koko Pimentel, Nene’s son, the endorsement by a faction in the PDP-Laban of Marcos Jr. as president is the antithesis of the party’s philosophy, as it was founded to oppose dictatorship and human rights violations under martial law.
He hit the nail right on the head when he said that “a political party formed to oppose Adolf Hitler will definitely not support an Adolf Hitler Jr.”
Pimentel said the endorsement of Marcos Jr. by the Cusi faction of PDP-Laban shows that these members are “total strangers” to the party’s ideals. “If you’re a real PDP-Laban member and you understand the principles of the party, you know that we should follow party principles, (not) personality-based politics,” he said.
The senator has indicated that there will be a “cleansing” of the PDP-Laban after the May 9 polls even if the group may possibly be reduced to a “very small number.” He also raised the need to pass a law against political turncoatism because he believes that joining a party should really be the end-result of full adherence to its basic principles.
A purge of unwanted elements in the PDP-Laban is long overdue. It must do this so that the legitimate party leadership and rank-and-file can prepare for the task of fighting crucial political battles should authoritarianism rear its ugly head once again.
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
