Over da bakod

 "AFTER THE elections, 115 congressmen were voted into office as Liberal Party members. But the attraction and admittedly the benefits of being part of the good graces of Malacañang were hard to resist. Thus, the exodus of party members to the fold of the new ruling party."

So lamented LP president Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan of partymates who jumped ship for the gravy of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan of President Duterte.

Exodus, indeed, as the husband of Sharon Cuneta aced it: “Unto the land flowing with milk and honey…” the Holy Book defined it, translated to perks and privileges exclusive to the powers-that-are.

"Wala pong pangako na mga benepisyo, walang dagdag proyekto, walang dagdag budget. Ito po talaga ay boluntaryong pagsapi namin na sa PDP."

So protested Quezon City 2nd District Rep. Winston Castelo of Pangilinan’s rationalization of their over da bakod stunt. 

"The best way to achieve our oath of office and deliver the services that we promised last election is to go in this direction and join the administration's party...So walang promise of additional budget kung hindi ang overriding factor po nito ay suportahan ang legislative agenda ng ating Pangulo at ma-deliver 'yung serbisyo na ating ipinangako sa taong bayan," Castelo said. He may have articulated as well the reasons of his fellow fence-jumpers like Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman, Lanao del Sur Rep. Ansaruddin Adiong, North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catambo, and Quezon City 5^th District Rep. Alfred Vargas.

Off hand, we would like to posit: Walang dagdag…so, it means mayroon naman in projects, in budget for the good of the constituents. Ain’t that enough to serve them?

Suportahan ang legislative agenda ng ating Pangulo: This is by no means exclusive to the ruling party, opposition members having crossed party lines – as in the death penalty bill, as in the Gina Lopez confirmation hearings, etc. – pursuant to the President’s agenda. So why change parties pa?

Still, we cannot and will not fault Castelo, et al for abandoning LP, especially as he invoked that it was the people they are sworn to serve that moved them to cross to PDP-Laban: “Nagpunta po kami sa aming mga constituents. At ang napag-alamanan po namin na itong desisyon na ito ang direksyon na makakatulong sa kanila." Not merely implying but verily Impacting there a principled stand grounded on the will of the people. Aye, representative governance at its best here. Kuno.

It does not in any way mean that we believe him, or any of his ilk, though. Else, we accede to an insult to our intelligence.

Any politician invoking the “people principle” – most especially as cause for changing parties – ought to be shot…er, shouted, for hypocrisy.

For, as we cited here time and again with circumstances proving us right: In politics “no one acts on principles or reasons from them.”    

What with politicians being “…the vilest and the narrowest of sycophants and courtiers that humanity has ever known; their sole end basely to flatter and develop all popular prejudices, which, for the rest, they but vaguely share, never having consecrated one minute of their lives to reflection and observation.”
So wrote Monsieur Leroy Beaullieu of the French kind in the 1890s yet, but finding timeless and universal affirmation in all species of the political animal.

Expediency and convention, utility and interests – self-serving, vested interests, make the fundamental matters – we could not dare write principles here and desecrate the word – whence politics breeds.

“Itong desisyon na ito ay hindi naman abrupt decision. Dumaan po ito sa proseso.” Oh, spare us, Castelo.

Balimbingan, it is. The game of musical chairs, or the dance of changing partners, transposed to politics. So it is euphemized.
Butterflies flitting from one flower to the other, seeking the sweetest nectar. So politicos engaged in it are metaphored. And, put in simile, like rats abandoning a sinking, if not already sunk, ship, where the LP is now instanced.  
Political prostitution, so one wag once went graphically ballistic about it.
Strange bedfellows politics does indeed make. So, sworn foes today are the sweetest friends in the next polls. The party pooper in the last elections becomes the party boy in the next.
Opportunism being the elemental rule governing Philippine politics.
Thus, it was with Marcos’ Kilusang Bagong Lipunan – the political monolith at the time of the dictatorship, only to disintegrate with the ascendancy of the coalition centered on the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino bannered by the sainted Cory Aquino.

Thus, it was with Lakas-NUCD-UMDP with the FVR presidency, losing its members to Partido ng Masang Pilipino during Erap’s all-too-brief interregnum.

Hallelujah, it was Lakas-CMD at the time of Gloria, only to be abandoned – oh, so ingloriously – for BS Aquino III’s yellow LP.

So, it is now with PDP-Laban, drawing all political bees and butterflies, birds and beasts to the sweet scent of honey.

As it shall ever be for the Castelos, Romans, Adiongs, Catambos, and their ilk. Until the next party in power.

Can’t help now but think of Quezon – “My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins.”

Alas, the Castila did not live long enough to instill an incontrovertible truth to that truism.

Hence, party loyalty remains a contradiction in terms, and loyalty to the country, as true as the Iskariot’s devotion to the Christ.