On Duterte’s intrusion in the speakership race

Rodrigo Duterte pitched his idea of term-sharing for the House Speakership during his trip to Japan with the nominees for the position. He also said he doesn’t want to interfere and refused to endorse a candidate However, on July 8, 2019, in the time of the oath taking of new presidential appointees, Duterte suddenly announced that Taguig City Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano will be the House Speaker of the 18th Congress. This decision comes with a twist, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said there will be a term-sharing agreement between Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco. Cayetano will serve a shorter term as the House Speaker for the first 15 months and the remaining 21 months will be Velasco’s. After which no one from either camps or even the fast-fading Liberal Party raised any resistance to the pronouncement.

The executive maneuver is but a blatant display of its absolutist authority over other branches of government. Nothing but the total disregard of the independence and integrity of each branch as provided for in the Constitution and taught in classrooms.

For several lawmakers to justify this intrusion, claiming Executive-Legislative harmony is hogwash. They are merely giving an excuse in order to not rock the boat. After all, their Fuhrer has spoken and his word is absolute. Duterte’s intrusion is evidence the notion of equal branches of government and the system of checks and balances are illusions that exist only on paper.

Even the power-sharing agreement between Cayetano and Velasco reeks of opportunism and unprincipled compromise. Though this isn’t novel, why should we expect the Cayetano-Romualdez partnership to fulfill the agreement? There is no honor in the dictionary of thieves.

Right after this unprincipled compromise in the House follows the unceremonious division of the spoils or the awarding of the juiciest committee chairmanships to their most loyal lapdogs.

History teaches us in that in the unbroken line of succession of trapos since the reinstitution of elite democracy after EDSA 1, compromise among trapos didn’t benefit the people, not even a bit. All of their legislative activities and maneuvers will only benefit their economic patrons at the expense of those who actually voted for them and pay for their salaries and perks they enjoy.

One thing is certain, the consolidation of power of the Duterte administration is now complete. The toiling masses should expect nothing from it in the next three years but more relentless attacks on their democratic and economic rights. The likelihood of substantial reform in the next three years has been eclipsed by his rabid allegiance to monopoly capitalists and local oligarchs that suspiciously remain silent as blood spills in depressed communities and picket lines, as foreigners intrude on sovereign waters and graft and corruption remains rampant.

The fundamental solution to an administration against the well-being of its own people is for us to rise up against it. We should educate ourselves and reach out to widest and most exploited sections of society and to liberate them from the shackles of conservatism and apathy.

We should not be waiting for messiahs. Instead of waiting for another Bonifacio, Edjop, or Lean Alejandro, we should strive to finish what they have begun for change will not happen overnight. It will commence once we revolutionize our consciousness and believe that true power belongs with the toiling masses and not the people in power.

Shara Mae Landicho

Spokeswoman

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