"All politics is local, and all politics is personal."
"All politics is local, and all politics is personal."
As if the coronavirus impact on the life of the nation is not enough to get us all worried about health and economics, here comes the political circus again rearing its head.
Over the past weeks, our legislators concerned themselves over the fate of the mammoth ABS-CBN empire. A young and little-heard or known congressman representing the touristic section of Palawan turns out to be chairman of the Committee on Franchises which is to hear out several bills calling for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.
The chairman has not called a hearing, likely waiting for cues from higher-ups on the end-fate of the franchise. For different motivations, legislators in both houses of Congress railed and ranted.
The more noble-sounding motivation equates the death of the franchise as the death of freedom of information, and the same was echoed by many in media and many more in showbiz, including TV’s action king of the last four years, Coco Martin.
But hardly does anyone expect nobility of motivation from our politician-legislators.
There always has to be a personal agenda, whether it is utang na loob or pa-utang ng loob collectible in the future from the powerful oligarchical family which controls the media empire.
On the other side of the equation, there are those who simply want to be on the good graces of Malacañang, whose top honcho is difficult to read. One day he can be very angry, mouthing vituperative words; on another day, he can be forgiving.
It doesn’t take a genius to decipher the real motives of politicians when they take a stand on issues.
But little did we expect that the brouhaha over the fate of ABS-CBN would spin-off into something more political: a power play in the House of Representatives.
In olden days, power plays were done in stealth. But they were also quite vicious, as when siblings poisoned each other to lay claim to kingly throne. Or when courtiers whispered intrigues in the corridors of power to gain favor with the monarch or to discredit competitors for favor.
From such stealth did many political writers coin the word “byzantine”—in historical reference to the decay of the intrigue-laden Eastern Roman Empire, which from the glorious days of Emperor Constantine weakened to the point of capitulation to the onslaughts of the Islamic Sultan Mehmed II.
Not that intrigue was invented in Byzantium, or that the practice ended with its collapse in 1453, to be replaced by the Ottoman Empire which itself was a haven of intrigue. In the western half of the Roman Empire, intrigue was likewise the coin of every realm, while the cunning, amoral use of power was described as Machiavellian, in honor (or dishonor) of political adviser Niccolo Machiavelli of the Borgias.
Now enough of the historical digression.
The point this article simply wants to stress is that (1) all politics is local and (2) all politics is personal. The local is, more likely than not, personal as well.
Take the pork barrel. Why can’t almost every legislator be without it? The ostensible reason is their local constituency needs it. As for the senators who are elected by the nation at large—well, they can define national as several “local” constituencies.
But the reason is more likely personal as well. In aid of reelection. In aid of the dynasty’s political fortunes. In aid of commissions.
So now let’s turn the clock back, to July of 2019, when the President, in trying to harmonize personal ambitions of his political leaders, crafted a Magellan formula: 15-21.
Fifteen months for Alan Peter; 21 months for Lord Allan.
Alan Peter, now on his seventh month as Speaker, claims that Lord Allan and his followers in the HoR want to shorten even his short term of 15, as in hora mismo, using the ABS-CBN franchise dribble play as casus belli.
Lord Allan and his mouthpieces shout balderdash in return. No such plans nor plots, and Alan Peter’s conspiracy theories are shibboleth for his own political power play, they say.
But Alan Peter is insistent that something Machiavellian or byzantine is afoot, and his loyalist, El Rey of Camarines Sur, accuses the Lord’s camp.
We thought all along these were the usual swordplay of political protagonists, a clash of ambitions midway through the 15 month arrangement. A kabuki show to hide the plots for the denouement of October 2020, when the 15 months are over and the next 21 kick in.
The personal motives are not confined to Alan Peter and Lord Allan, but to other congressmen as well, especially those who hold juicy chairmanships or powerful positions. When and if Lord Allan claims his 21 months, what happens to the chairs and the deputy speakers? Will they stay, or will they be decapitated?
And so, in a surprise move that could be described as Machiavellian, Alan Peter’s camp on Monday night replaced the Chairman of the uber-powerful Committee on Appropriations, the gentleman from Calinan upon Davao City, Isidro Ungab. And the replacement? A heretofore unknown party-list representative, incidentally also from Davao—Edgar Go Uy.
And the gentleman from Mindoro, Doy Leachon was removed as member of the HoR’s Electoral Tribunal, replaced by another party-lister, Ron Salo, another loyalist of the Speaker.
Is this a clean strike? A neatly-stuck blade in a political battle?
Don’t bet on it. Why, even the President’s daughter publicly chafed at the power play that removed her friend, the gentle Sid from Calinan. No, not chafed, but seethed, calling the decapitation of Sid as “grossly unacceptable.”
In fine, abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
2022 has begun too early. In these times of a dangerous virus, the political circus has unraveled as well.