Just recently, we were treated to a spectacle, widely covered by the Philippine Press of Senator Manny Villar, NP Standard Bearer, seeking a merger with the political party of the dictator Marcos, the KBL. This move was hailed by local political strategists as a fantastic coup.

 

The reading was that Villar got the Marcos son into the senatorial lineup so he can claim the "solid north" as his bailiwick. The next few days, the press played on the protestations of the original compatriots of Villar, the leftist party list, objecting vehemently to this merger on ideological grounds. They left the NP as they claimed they can't be party to the entrance of the rightest Marcos. That was several months ago. Today, the leftists are back as "guest candidates" of the NP.
There is something wrong with this picture.

Before the August 1 passing away of our revered Cory Aquino, Villar was leading in the SWS polls ad was touted the next possible president.

September and October saw, the only son, Noynoy assuming that mantle. A relative unknown with a skimpy record in his years in both houses of Congress, he declared his intentions for the top post.

Advantaged by a sterling political pedigree, his numbers are largely reflective of on almost desperate hope of an electorate ravaged by years of Gloria Arroyo's incumbency.

There is something definitely wrong with this picture.
The NPC, had a good thing going for them in the early guessing games.
The choice of the young Escudero, who was built up by the party for future serious leadership together with a charismatic former media person in Loren, fuelled interest in the National People's Coalition, a party founded by a known crony of the later dictator.

Until, the young Escudero shot himself in the foot by declaring the irrelevance of political parties as vehicle to capture the political power...

"...sino man po ang nagpaplanong tumakbo bilang pangulo, dapat wala pong partidong kinabibilangan -NPC, LP, NP, Lakas o ano pa man. Ang dapat na partidong kinabibilangan ng sino mang nagpaplanong tumakbo, dapat po Pilipinas. At lahat ng mga kapartido niya, dapat lahat din ng Pilipino..."

He further elaborated, "I cannot be shackled to the decisions of a party...if a candidate runs for office; the whole nation must be his only party..."

But what got the cake was the declaration of Erap, head of what was once a formidable political party touted to be the champion of the hordes of destitute, the PMP (Partido ng Masang Pilipino), a discredited head of state and government and a convicted felon: "I am running for the Presidency to vindicate my name."

The three scenarios are, in a microcosm, the sad state of Philippine Party Politics. Political Parties in most successful politically mature countries are the primary vehicles to gain political power by engaging themselves in political contests, primary elections. The members and their leadership are expected to adhere to a set of principles and strategies written in a platform unique to that party. This espousal of a vision of governance defines the ideological identity of that party - and therefore, the electorate must be permitted a patent choice - as to who must govern them - based on what the candidates and their respective parties stand for.

It is not therefore the persona of the presumed leader, his bloodline, his youth or his physical attractiveness that must prevail in these contests - although admittedly, these are desirable traits; but the clarity of beliefs and approaches for governance - which should be lodged in a collegiality of a political party.

Governance cannot be simply left to the individual whims of an elected leader. Running a country is a complex system that required the comprehension and appreciation of power, authority and responsibility, their use, misuse, abuse and even non-use.

Political parties are meant to showcase these complexities even before their leadership are gifted the privilege to govern.

We are witness to the pre-election sad spectacle of our leaders floating from one party to another - displaying their varied and changing political ideologies.
These honorable men and women are likened more to chameleons, altering their political colors when convenience and their survival dictate.

Do we blame them for this show of crash opportunism?
Perhaps, the Filipino is now so inured through decades of malpractices that we no longer are disturbed by them. Our politicians do these because there are no sanctions in our political system. No incentives or rewards for sticking to principles of a political party. This practice, although despicable, is largely tolerated as it is enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution allowing the flowering of Political Parties, without truly understanding their roles in nation-building. This is not contrived encounter of Noynoy, Gibo, Manny, Gordon and Erap supporters and this workshop is not meant to advance any of the Presidential Candidates' agenda.

This is a non-partisan gathering although a highly political one; a beginning of what hopefully will turn out to be a compelling political conversation among yourselves, the young professionals.

With the facilitation of specialists, we seek to familiarize ourselves with the viewpoints behind political party formations, the economy and doctrines behind good governance based on centrist philosophy so that, whoever wins in 2010; those of us who are partisans (for Noynoy, Gibo, Villar, Gordon, Erap and others) - may advocate an agenda of transformation to our respective leadership.

As repositories of political theories, beliefs and strategies of governance, political parties encompass an array of positions in a spectrum - from the extreme right. What are needed therefore are two or three distinguishable political parties that must precipitate a clash of ideas and principles - the better to present the optimum alternatives to the electorate.

Intelligent choice by the populace is the basic prerequisite for a party's ascendancy to legitimate political power and the right to govern - as that choice carries with it an implicit covenant with the consent of the governed.

Political parties can do no less. To illustrate, poverty alleviation is always in the menu during election season. Because the greater majority of the electorate wallows in destitution, candidates feel that they must identify themselves with them and present this to the citizenry through written platforms and in their slogans.

Candidates wax poetic over the method of its obliteration, recounting their poor boy background, establishing is one fell swoop their "street cred"- "...nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura...nakatulog ka na ba sa bangketa."

Colorful jargon aside, these public commitments can best serve the public if they are also encapsulated in a clear strategy of governance distinct from those proffered by other parties.

Universally, parties on the left, like the communist party, hold that all resources are to be publicly owned and government has the primordial duty to eradicate poverty through a centrally planned economic system. At the other extreme, the free enterprise system dictates that resources are by right privately owned.

As such, it is incumbent upon individuals to have untrammelled privileges to create wealth and allow the reduction of poverty through a trickle down economy.

These extremes never really existed successfully in real life, but we have in between, all shades of poverty reducing programs with appropriate strategies emanating from their party's fundamental beliefs.

We have therefore, in theory, party programs that can suit individual biases, advocacies, prejudices and even eccentricities. The political parties in more mature societies are meant to engage in a free market of ideas where the individual citizen has a choice.

This conference is just a start to attempt to elucidate in some broad strokes, the differences and commonalities of party positions in the wide center. One meeting like this however is not enough to understand the nuances and even the arcane practices of political parties.

We hope however to jump start a dialogue, a debate or a conversation among ourselves.

The obvious question perhaps hanging in the air when you were extended the invitation was: Why were we invited?

Let me answer this in a roundabout way which I promise, you will find compelling.
Let me introduce you to a boyhood friend, a true comrade and a defender of the downtrodden. He spent a greater part of his life championing many great causes - most of them were lost ones.

He was the Executive Director of TACDRUP, a co-sponsor of this conference, where I am Chairman and CEO. But he was really the moving force behind this NGO.

His real name is Rey Magno Teves.
He died last November.
Several months before he died, we fell into a serious conversation, in effect reviewing our life in the political ecosystem. We both started as student leaders dabbling sometimes in local politics. In our idealistic youth, we were certain we can conquer the world, change it into somewhat vague image and usher in a new dawn of good governance.

The clear path open to us in effecting political change is of course through traditional route of running for office.

The dominant political groupings then were the Liberal and Nacionalista Parties that alternated power among themselves advancing mostly just the welfare of their class. Admittedly, some crumbs were allowed the populace, but the dominance of the oligarchy in both parties virtually guaranteed the perpetual struggle of the common man to better his lot.

We did not believe in either of these two parties. In our youthful exuberance we run him as an independent candidate for a seat in the City Council.
We lost miserably.

Our youthful idealism was somewhat eroded. But we did not despair.
We run him again for a seat in the House of Representative, this time under a grassroots political party we co-founded - The Partido Democratico Pilipino (PDP).
We lost. He never attempted to run for public office again.

The PDP was founded in Mindanao as a local party by former members of CSM (Christian Social Movement) and YCSP (Youg Christian Socialist of the Philippines in 1981 here in Davao City and Cagayan de Oro).With Nene Pimentel were Sammy Occena and Zaf Respicio, practicing lawyers; Cris Lanorias and Rey Teves, NGO leaders; Lito Lorenzana, a young professional; and a host of politically inclines young men and women from both cities. It was a hard struggle building a party during the repressive years of the Marcos regime.

Over the years, since the establishment of the centrist party PDP, we made errors in its development. A party engages in a commodity, power, and power relationships and their attendant allures sometimes inveigle mere mortals toward a path of self-destruction. We were subject to this too.

We failed to strengthen the foundations of the fledging party in our localities and were beguiled to expand toward the center - Metro Manila by merging with a political groupings called the LABAN (Lakas Ng Bayan) of the Aquino-Cohuangco families.
It was a seemingly logical move then, because we helped politicized the anti-Marcos forces and when the Marcoses and their minions were booted out in the 1986 People Power Revolution, the PDP emerged as part of the power coalition.
It was the heady and exhilarating days of Cory government and being part of the coalition, we partook of the regime, albeit we were totally oblivious and naive on the nuances of good governance.

Cory, in her elegant simplicity, did not believe in political parties and this was enshrined in the 1987 constitution which allowed "multiparties" bringing about a chaotic mish-mash of political groupings that tolerated since then, the elections of minority presidents. As an offshot, this further exacerbated the state of affairs by the system giving way to candidates with winnable personalities. This reduced our electoral system into popular contests with no bearing whatsoever on the people's well-being.

Elections are beauty contests.
Back to the question: Why are you invited here?"
The answer, if it is not obvious yet is because you are the SUCCESSOR GENERATION!

Whether you like it or not, you, the youth will now assume and share the responsibilities for yourselves and for your fellow citizens. You can initiate changes in the political firmament to bring about good governance and eventually the progress of our society - or permit the conditions to fester. This is now your choice.
Our generation may have failed you. But in the ashes of our failures rise the phoenix - possible ingredients of success.

In the four decades in political technocracy we made colossal errors but we tried to correct them. You can learn from them.

Make new mistakes if you must - but don't make the same mistakes we did.
My presentation today is centered on centrist democratic parties. Whether you are for Noynoy, Gibo, Manny, Gordon or Erap does not matter.

What is important is, are your choices grounded on the vision an platforms of their parties. Or, more fundamentally - do these parties even have an ideology? The Successor Generation may have its work cut out for them. Use the technology in vogue. Find the space to work with one another and perhaps...just perhaps...decide that political technocracy after all, can be woven onto your daily lives - as I did to mine.

Work among yourselves and make a difference. In fact we want you to engage in a higher level - a collision of ideas, a rivalry for your dreams -so that what emerges eventually is the best one- one that must ultimately benefit the Filipino.
My comrades, in your political journey ahead - be focused - live straight and learn well.

Thank you.