There was accusation recently aired by the Honorable Cebu City South District Congressman Tomas R. Osmeña against the Liberal Party to the effect that the highest echelon of the party hierarchy has not attended to the needs of its Cebu City leadership. Did it abandon the local leaders? It was presumed that the legislator raised that issue to explain why he could not support the party anymore here in the city or for that matter, why he was not interested in attending its assemblages.
Being not a member of the political party, and because I do not gravitate to the circle of alalays of the former mayor, I am not in the position to comment on the veracity of his complaint. Neither do I intend to.But, I write today, in the light that the other day, the LP moguls finally met their leaders in Cebu, including the city’s political leaders, minus the mayor.
It is not entirely inconceivable that the lawmaker might have unwittingly allowed His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, a glimpse of the frame of mind of the top leaders of the Liberal Party. I refer to the way the party runs its political machinery during the election season which, I believe, may not approximate present day realities.
To me, the most senior in the elite enclave of LP officialdom is Sen. Jovito R. Salonga. His profound understanding of how government works is an inexhaustible source of education. He may not anymore possess the physical vim to handle the rigorous affairs of the party, but certainly, his wisdom must be sought for, every now and then, by the expanding number of stars who are all competing to follow his venerable footsteps. Surely, his thought process, read it as idealism, must be constantly sprayed in the receptive minds of his successors.
What kind of idealism does Sen. Salonga preach? It is traceable to his first incursion into the world of politics within the decade following the end of the second world war. He braved against the powerful San Juans of Rizal. As an upstart, he saw his opponents as politically entrenched and the attendant clout to reckon with.
Sen. Salonga will tell anyone who cares to listen today that he presented to the voters of a congressional district in Rizal a platform that outlined his vision. The process was not immediately effective but the moment he convinced his then would-be constituents that he was a source of fresh hope and a fountain of learned leadership, there was no stopping his converts to campaign for him. He did not give money to those who carried, on their back, his few election materials to post them in appropriate places. The thought that his brand of leadership was what the country then needed prompted people to campaign for him. To end the long story, that was how he won his electoral contest. As David did hundreds of years earlier defeat a formidable Goliath.
Let us review the story. The senator did not spend a fortune. His hordes of campaigners were moved by the promise of an honest, principled and learned leadership. His election materials were contributed by people who preferred to remain anonymous. If the contest was not dissimilar to a fight between good and evil, the crass materialism, always associated with the latter, did not win any precinct.
Is there anything wrong with this tale? I must expose myself to the risk of saying that this frame of Sen. Salonga’s mind may not succeed in the political milieu of the present times. The choice of our people in such personalities as Sen. Lito Lapid, Ex-Congressmen Singson and Ecleo (is he still a representative who roams at large?) and even a Councilor Jun Pe, effectively destroys the idealistic foundation of Sen. Salonga’s philosophy. We really deserve the kind of leaders we elect today.
If the Liberal Party continues to uphold the revered ideas of the senator, it is likely to engage in an election where spending is frowned upon. Rather than the party funding a campaign, its candidates will bank solely on principles, competent and knowledgeable leaders to win votes.Sadly, this may not be enough.And in Cong. Osmeña’s realistic view of politics, this will not win elections. For whatever reason, Cong. Osmeña wants Mayor Rama to consider this ramification.
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