I was thinking of a couple of times that the Dilawans really screwed themselves up. The reason behind their opposition to the parliamentary is probably due to the fear of the unknown. The reason why they went against constitutional reform not just once but THRICE is something. Do you remember the times when Fidel V. Ramos and later Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wanted to change from presidential to parliamentary? Right now, President Rodrigo R. Duterte may no longer want to push it because he hardly has any support. If you ask me - the Philippines should've gone full swing with a 1987 PARLIAMENTARY Constitution. Yes, we could've had President Corazon C. Aquino and Prime Minister Ramos running the show. Cory herself could've been the unifying Head of State while Ramos himself could've been the Head of Government after the Marcos Years ended.
Personally, I really wish the Dilawans will really stop seeking to be popular and be more credible. As much as I still read Get Real Philippines (GRP) to get new ideas but then again benign0 is as f***ing clueless as Benigno Aquino III. This statement in his article concerning President Duterte and COVID-19 has me thinking if the writer really knows that charter change is badly needed:
What the Opposition needs to focus on is how to become more popular than Duterte. It’s the only way they can hope to win an election which, last we heard, is the only way to acquire political power under a democracy. This is different from the loser strategy of trying to tear Duterte down before his people — one that resulted in the Opposition’s catastrophic loss in last year’s national elections. The Opposition need only learn this obvious lesson if they are truly serious about seeing their political fortunes change. They need to present themselves and their ideas as better alternatives to Duterte.
"Sorry benign0 but you're still freaking clueless!" is a good thing to say to him. What the Opposition needs is not to become more popular than President Duterte - it's to become more CREDIBLE than him. The big blunder of #OtsoDiretso wasn't them criticizing President Duterte. The big blunder of the opposition is their failure to give better alternatives. A good example is that Noynoy himself could've voiced out about the pricing of the Cauldron for the #SeaGames2019 if he were in parliament. The members of #OtsoDiretso could've had weekly contributions to criticizing the Marawi rehabilitation project if they were in parliament. Instead, the very absence of the weekly question hour in the Philippines has helped contribute to mental decay to both the Administration and the Opposition. Rather, their fear that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may "rule forever" got in the way. What Noynoy failed to foresee was that many of his ambitious projects (and soon enough, Duterte) is that six years is NOT ENOUGH to make a difference.
If they supported the parliamentary system years ago then they wouldn't need to make noise. Maybe, right now, we'd have PDP-Laban as the Administration. Meanwhile, Liberal Party acts as the Opposition. Maybe, we can have Prime Minister Duterte vs. Opposition Leader Bam Aquino (since I once admired him for his intelligence). Both of them would have to duke it out and present their alternatives. Every week, Bam would be given the opportunity to sharpen his mind and not become the Bum he is today. Every week, Duterte would have to face criticism from the Opposition. Maybe, Duterte would've declared temporary closure to Chinese visitors ever since China declared quarantine on Wuhan. Maybe, Duterte would've had better alternatives. Maybe, both Duterte and Bam will send their respective teams to help Filipinos out there. They would be helping each other. Maybe, along the way, Bam will probably tell Duterte to support the mobile markets during the crisis.
I don't think the Liberal Party is truly dead. What they just simply need to do is to support constitutional reform if they hope to rise from the grave. They would be better off with a better system that will truly be more democratic than the current rule of law.
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