By Al S. Mendoza

 

(Happy birthday today, Feb. 20, to Dante F. Fernandez of SSS Village/Roxas City, Dada R. Mendoza of Kyusi and Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz.  Cheers!)

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THERE are 14 of 37 candidates running for senator with multiple parties in the May 9, 2022, elections.

Meaning, the 14 have more than one party.

Where is loyalty there?

Is it not said that one cannot serve two masters at the same time?

Running for senator with two parties each are Chel Diokno, Leila de Lima and Sonny Matula—all under presidential aspirants Leni Robredo and Leody de Guzman.

Neri Colmenares and Edwin Labog are running for senator under De Guzman and Manny Pacquiao.

Gringo Honasan is trying to reclaim his Senate seat under Ping Lacson and Bongbong Marcos.

Wasn’t Honasan a major member of the famed breakaway military group Ram that helped depose Bongbong’s dictator father in the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution?

Jojo Binay, the former vice president and a losing presidential candidate in 2016, is running for senator under Robredo and Pacquiao like Joel Villanueva.

Binay and Sonny Trillanes, bitterest of enemies only a while back, have become strange bedfellows as they are both in Robredo’s ticket.

And comebacking senatorial bet JV Ejercito is with both Lacson and Pacquiao.

One will venerate one and despise the other.

Bad enough, you say?

But look at this:  Four of the 14 multiple party advocates have 3 parties apiece. They are:

Chiz Escudero, the outgoing Sorsogon governor, and Dick Gordon are running for senator under Robredo, Lacson and Pacquiao.

Wasn’t Escudero one of the five male opponents that Robredo defeated in 2016 for the vice presidential post?

Loren Legarda is a senatorial bet again running under Lacson, Pacquiao and Marcos.

Same with Sherwin Gatchalian, who is also with Lacson, Pacquiao and Marcos.

But one candidate beats them all.

He does not only have 3 parties but 4.  That’s Miguel Zubiri, who is being carried by Robredo, Lacson, Marcos and Pacquiao.

Only in the Philippines, indeed.

But flawed as the system has been, it refuses to die.

That’s part of democracy—as always.

The practice readily falls under the freedom of choice dictum, which is guaranteed by the Constitution.

The choice to wallow in nonsense is as inherent as choosing to be irrelevant.

The choice to be thick skinned is to be needlessly brazen enough to go out of order amid insane times.

The choice to be stupid is as obvious as in totally disregarding one’s honor and dignity.

Because the “guest candidate” system is a political poison, it has already claimed two aspirants.

Lacson has removed both Herbert Bautista and Gatchalian from his senate lineup for endorsing Bongbong—a breach of their agreement not to endorse anyone for president.

As we go to press, Lacson has intimated on also kicking out Gordon and Binay for the same offense.

If many more will fall by the wayside as the campaign season rolls along, I’ll be the least surprised.

In the sickening circus, loyalty has become as brittle as a dried twig.

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