Split opposition has no chance against GMA

Ernesto F. Herrera
Manila Times

I SAID before that the opposition should get its act together if it wants to matter in the next election. It would be a gross underestimation of Mrs. Arroyo’s abilities to stay in power to think that, divided as they are, the opposition can succeed against an administration that they claim is so adept at rigging elections.

All the fractured opposition has managed to do is prove the administration’s point; that, if you give members of the opposition a chance, they will hang themselves every time. Unless the opposition can resolve its problems with each other and stop their infighting, they would remain languishing in the political wilderness.

Right now, there is no one person who can be expected to galvanize the opposition. In the first place, nobody wants that headache. Nobody wants to step up to the plate. They must do it together. They must believe in the power of unity by making personal sacrifices and working with all democratic forces in the country.

Despite Mrs. Arroyo’s lack of a popular mandate and her dismal approval ratings, the opposition is not faring any differently. I suspect that if a similar poll is taken, and you ask respondents they wouldn’t rate the opposition any higher, or for that matter, lower than they do the president.

As bad as the people think Mrs. Arroyo has been for the country, as unpopular as she has been, the opposition still remains in the sidelines because no one wants what the opposition has to offer. The people can’t even define what the opposition is exactly, or more their interests lie.

The people see the opposition as being cut from the same cloth as the administration. The people see them as having the same values as the administration they want to oust from power. Malacañang knows this, and that is why the administration lets the members of the opposition have their bombastic cries. For as long as no one among them can unite their ranks, for as long as the people don’t believe them, really, what’s the harm? Let them shout from their own rooftops because their ideas don’t seem to hold any currency with the public, right?

The opposition must offer a new value system that is different from the status quo. If they wish to promise change, they must show people the form, substance and content of such change. They won’t have the moral authority to confront what they claim is a corrupt administration if they themselves are guilty or accuse each other of undemocratic and less honorable practices; if they cannot unite based on principles and values. They can’t defeat GMA if they are split. And their members have no business going into rainbow agreements and forming a coalition with administration members they have accused to be crooks and criminals.

When you look at it, the enormous political resources at GMA’s disposal are a big factor in keeping her in power. But it is not the only factor keeping GMA afloat. It is also the opposition’s nonfactor. It is the failure of the opposition to be credible that bails her out, that allows her to spin her way out of every crisis. Because the opposition is weak, GMA loyalists remain staunchly so. They are not wavering because why should they? Right now, they are even winning over members of the opposition to their side.

If the opposition can’t get its act together, they would be squandering a historic opportunity in the May election. It is their best hope that voters by election time would have become so fed up with the apparently corrupt status quo—represented by a president whose office remains under a cloud of legal and ethical suspicion that they would choose representatives and senators who can guarantee change, through another impeachment trial in particular.

But it’s not going to happen. There’s a lot of work to be done. For one, the election of senators may concern national issues, but local races are less about an unpopular president than about local candidates and issues.

Can the opposition get its act together in time? Can they show people their vision and their organizational capacity as a team? Can they make people believe that they can make a difference? Would a united opposition have enough credibility to get its views and agenda accepted by the public?

For the sake of the country, I certainly hope so.