Jose de Venecia is about to be ousted from his post of Speaker of the House. That is, if we believe the news. But I don’t think that JdV will be able to pull a miracle bunny from the hat this time around. The President herself is calling for his departure, along with the rest of her benighted family. Previously, he was able to dismantle challenges to his leadership through the steadfast support of the resident occupant of Malacañan. When Ramos was in power, he was unbeatable. When he basked in Gloria’s favor, he was unbeatable. Now, he’s a beaten man, his only mistake being his son getting involved in the nasty National Broadband Network mess.
This incident proves what I have been saying all along. The shift to parliamentary system simply changes the titles of the players without really changing anything. Ever since Quezon, the party of the President becomes the Administration and everyone else becomes the Opposition. This happens even when the other parties get a larger share of the vote, even if there were more congressmen affiliated with parties hostile to the administration. How does this happen? During the Commonwealth, there was only one party, the Nacionalista Party. Sure, the Partido Federal and later the Partido Democrata existed to challenge the Nacionalista, but both parties had their members coopted and the remnants crushed. During the postwar period, congressmen simply switched back and forth between the Nacionalista and Liberal Party, and since the Liberal Party is a splinter group of the Nacionalista, they’re all in good company.
Of course, Ferdinand Marcos crushed all opposition groups and so almost members of the rubber-stamp Batasang Pambansa also had to be members of his KBL (Kilusang Bagong Lipunan). After Marcos, things became a wee bit more sophisticated as it’s no longer individuals or blocs shifting back and forth but entire parties flitting from one coalition to another (However, it is prudent to note that in the Philippines, most political parties exist only in newspaper accounts, with members usually including the politician in question, a secretary, the politician’s household staff, and some people duped into signing the charter because they thought it was a loan application).
Such is the case today, as Lakas-NUDC-UMDP-IADH (Lakas-National Union of Christian Democrats-Union of Muslim Democrats-Insert Another Democrat Here) prepares to kick out its president when he loses his speaker post. This is in preparation for the merger of Lakas and KAMPI, the party of the President. Nevermind that KAMPI was nothing more than one of the parties mentioned above when Gloria became President. Oh well, Lakas was nothing until Ramos became President.
I’ve always viewed de Venecia as a sleazy politician, the quintessential wheeler and dealer who manages to keep everyone happy with their pork barrel. I laughed when I read that he is launching a moral revolution, because ample supply of morality is definitely not among his traits. But I look forward to seeing him in the opposition. He remains a formidable politician, and it would be nice to see an independent House of Representatives. Sure, it’ll still be filled with congressmen out to get their grubby hands on every centavo that passes through it, but other institutions are filled with the same kind of men. But if they are against each other, then we might experience something of a true check and balance that might sort our country out.
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