PAGBABAGO
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid
The recent move by PDP-Laban (Cusi faction) was seen by the Pimentel-Pacquiao faction of the party as a “slap” on the faces of its members. Koko Pimentel, son of the late PDP founder, former Senate President Nene Pimentel said that endorsing Marcos Jr. is like supporting Adolf Hitler, Jr. “This latest action only shows that the current leadership of the faction don’t even acknowledge that PDP-Laban was established to oppose the Marcos dictatorship,” he added. Presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos, however, expressed gratitude over the “much awaited endorsement” of his bid, an important step to unity, he noted.
But UP political science professor Maria Ela Atienza said the PDP-Laban’s endorsement was “practically meaningless” because political parties in the country were very weak. PDP-Laban was a failure as it was unable to produce a standard bearer because of internal conflict. Some of the members of the Cusi wing are reported to be supporting other presidential candidates.
A bit of history about the PDP-Laban political party which, in the early years was a much highly regarded party as its pioneers were among the most well-respected political leaders. The party was the result of the marriage between two political parties – PDP founded by Senate President Pimentel Jr. and a group of protesters mostly from Mindanao against the Marcos government, and Lakas ng Bayan (Laban), established by Senator Ninoy Aquino in 1982. In 1986, the two parties finally merged as PDP-Laban and nominated Cory Aquino to run for president during the snap elections against Ferdinand Marcos.
During the 1992 presidential election, PDP-Laban, in alliance with the Liberal Party, was among the seven political parties that fielded presidential and vice presidential candidates and a full slate of 24 senators. Fidel V. Ramos of Lakas NUCD won the presidency by a small margin, narrowly defeating Miriam Santiago of People’s Reform Party.
Some idealists among us, including myself who decided to join the electoral race, did so because we thought that having gone through the People Power revolution, our electorate may have undergone some change in their electoral behavior. That after Cory, perhaps our people would be more open to non-politicos. For some three months, we travelled all over the country, moved from one campaign stage to another, shook hands with market vendors, kissed babies, and went through all the motions expected of a candidate.
Our party, the alliance of Liberal Party and PDP-Laban did not stand a chance. But we were consoled by the fact that our standard bearers, Senators Jovito Salonga and Nene Pimentel were the favored candidates by universities, NGOs, and professional groups.
Both the Liberal Party and PDP-Laban had shared similar experiences like being compared with the Volkswagen Beetle at certain times in their political history. But at least, the Liberal Party had remained true to its adherence to democratic principles.
Thus, it is with sadness that I witness the turnaround of a political party that once upon a time made a significant contribution toward the building of our democratic foundations.
My email, [email protected]