Robredo, naniniwala na walang Demokrasya kung lahat ay sumasang-ayon sa Presidente

MANILA, Philippines — A Palace official on Wednesday scoffed at the plan of the political opposition to field a “resistance” slate in next year’s midterm elections, a move that Vice President Leni Robredo said is essential to the country’s democracy.

Reacting to the plan of the erstwhile ruling Liberal Party to field an opposition senatorial slate, Salvador Panelo, President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel, said that the political opposition has really been resisting the policies of the government.

Panelo, himself a failed senatorial candidate of the Marcos-era KBL, added that the president’s critics could always try and fail and repeat what they had failed.

“They can always try. They can always fail. They will always try to repeat what they have failed,” Panelo said in an interview with reporters.”We welcome that. It’s a free society,” he added.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, the president of the Liberal Party, said on Tuesday that they are eying to form a “genuine opposition” coalition for next year’s elections. The phrase may be a reference to the Genuine Opposition slate in the 2007 midterm elections. That coalition saw eight of its 12 candidates getting Senate seats.

Panglina stressed the need for a strong opposition that would resist a perceived slide to “authoritarianism and anti-democratic rule.”

“We hope to help build together the broadest coalition of groups and individuals united behind defending our freedoms and our civil and political rights,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

Pangilinan’s statement was basically in consonance with the comment of another LP senator, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, who expressed disinterest in joining the slate of PDP-Laban next year.

Politicians switching political parties are common in the Philippines as these groups are formed not on the basis of ideals and principles but on convenience and access to government money.

In 2016, the Liberal Party, despite losing the presidency, were on course to have the most members in the Philippine House.

However, many of these representatives, knowing that funding is controlled and thus their political fortune by the party in power, abandoned LP and transferred to Duterte’s PDP-Laban, which initially had only three representatives.

Many local government officials also jumped ship to the administration party, which has sizable influence on the amount of money that could be poured into local projects.

Robredo meanwhile highlighted the importance of having a genuine opposition in a democracy even if the president is enjoying historically high popularity and approval ratings.

“A genuine opposition is important to complete the tenets of democracy. We cannot have a democracy where everybody agrees with the leader,” said Robredo, the highest-ranking official of the Liberal Party.

Robredo said the party is still in the process of screening potential candidates but emphasized that they would be looking for candidates who are qualified to be senators and are loyal to the party’s ideals.

She clarified that the candidates need not be opposed to federalism, saying that the Liberal Party does not have yet a stand on the issue and wants more deliberations on the matter.

Robredo however could not say if the party can field a full slate, noting that their ranks have been decimated in the past months following Duterte’s presidential victory.

Historically, LP has either led or has been part of coalition slates.