Plunderers Power-Grab

Efren Danao said that it is now apparent that power grab is the only reason behind the efforts of former President Joseph Estrada to unite the opposition and nothing else. There is no underlying principle that should bind the opposition except to take over Malacañang in 2010—if that qualifies as a principle.

At the Kapihan sa Senado on Thursday, I asked Erap if there is any other reason, besides capturing Malacañang, that should bind the opposition. He virtually gave no other reason. He only gave the motherhood statement that “in the interest of our country, our government, we must be united.” He added that every member of the opposition wants to put the country’s affairs in order so the Philippines could no longer be branded as “the most corrupt country, most dangerous for journalists.”

For the opposition to be truly united, they must all agree on common political, social and economic principles that would govern the conduct of the government once they are in power. Otherwise, the unity will be good only during the election. Once they are in power, they will end up fighting each other.

But then, why bother with coming up with a platform of government that would be adopted by all opposition candidates? Opposition unity is a pipe dream, after all. And it is keeping Erap in the news.

If we are to believe the Pulse Asia Survey, Sen. Manny Villar is tops in the voters’ presidential preference. If we are to believe the Social Weather Stations survey, he is second only to Erap. Whichever survey one believes, what is apparent is that Villar remains high in the surveys despite the ethics case filed against him by Sen. Jamby Madrigal.

Villar had refused to attend the hearings of the case against him. He preferred to explain his case to media and the people and not before the Senate Committee of the Whole with members who would be his rivals for the presidency in 2010. I have had misgivings before about his non-appearance in the hearings. I thought it was a wrong strategy because the hearings were aired live on TV and radio. Only snippets of Villar’s side could be aired on the news programs of TV and radio, which would put him at a disadvantage.

Well, it looks like Villar was playing his card well. He is maintaining his ratings despite the charges. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago has an explanation for this: “Either the people were becoming confused by the pieces of evidence submitted by Jamby or, they just do not care.” Incidentally, I note that the hearing last Tuesday was no longer covered live by radio and TV. I expect some senators to stop attending the hearing once they realized that they could not get the needed media exposure there.