The ULOL Philippine Opposition

Here's a bit of a meme that describes the current opposition to be ULOL. Okay, not everyone up there is from the Liberal Party since Antonio Trillanes IV is from Nacionalista, Antonio Tinio is from Alliance of Complaining Teachers, Sarah Elgago is from Kayabangan Partylist, and Carlos Zarate is from Bayad Muna. But one thing is certain - opposition in the presidential system is best described as ULOL or CRAZY. Again, the problem of the organization called ULOL is that they want better results but they don't want to try anything new. Not to mention, the problem of CBCP's Socrates Villegas is not that he criticizes President Duterte - it's when he opens his mouth WITHOUT doing research! The real problem of ULOL is that it's a presidential opposition.

What's wrong with the presidential opposition? It's all about the SYSTEM again. I really hate to think about what makes these guys ULOL is really obvious. I may be no political scientist myself. However, it doesn't mean I can't understand basic political science by researching about it. I could consider a list of problems that makes the current Philippine opposition defective. These problems presented by the popularity, personality-based election. The current opposition has lost its popularity and now seeks to get it back through epal methods. Why #OtsoDiretso lost its platform is because it chose to go by popularity. #OtsoDiretso could've chosen to go for constitutional reform. Imagine if Bam Aquino decided to promote economic liberalization than sell fishballs. Imagine if Florin Hilbay decided to promote the parliamentary system for transparency. Instead, #OtsoDiretso did none of those things. They decided with a publicity stunt to dare President Rodrigo R. Duterte to ride his jetski to China - never mind their beloved leader Noynoy Aquino needs to get run over by a train. They could've won by presenting alternatives but chose to go with publicity stunts.

What makes the parliamentary system well, more transparent? It's all about the weekly questioning. The big problem with ULOL is that they demand transparency while they think that weekly questioning will make things worse. They want a formalized opposition yet they don't want to be shift from presidential to parliamentary with a LONG range of excuses not to do so. Again, that's the excuse of ULOL? It's because the change wasn't brought in by their side? Is it because the 1987 Constitution is the "best in the world" when it isn't? If it were the best in the world then why isn't the Philippines the best even in Asia? They don't even see that the parliamentary system, though not perfect, will reduce mistakes greatly.

Consider the structure of the parliamentary system. Again, let's imagine the setup where we have Prime Minister Rodrigo R. Duterte of PDP and Opposition Leader Noynoy Aquino of the Liberal Party. Remember when they wanted #OneMoreTermForPNoy? Remember when they said that Noynoy did well? Stopping with Noynoy did well? What about what if Noynoy did BETTER than well because he had better tools? Noynoy could've existed as the current Opposition Leader for the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party becomes the Opposition where it's their job to keep the Government on its toes. How does it work? Duterte is answerable to Noynoy and vice-versa. PDP-Laban is answerable to Liberal Party and vice-versa. Both sides must be transparent to each other.

Not to mention there is weekly BROADCASTED questioning. It's live for everyone to see and the presses must cover it. The Opposition wants to check and balance? Well, it's going to be aired and they must be at their best performance. Hilbay wants to fire shots at PDP-Laban weekly? Why not do it at the weekly question hour? Why wait until the SONA to fire shots at the country's leader? Why not do it WEEKLY? Noynoy's criticisms towards Duterte are better off done at a weekly questioning. Just imagine if Duterte passed the question down to Noynoy, Noynoy passed down the question to Deputy Prime Minister Alan Peter S. Cayetano, and Cayetano passed down the question to Deputy Opposition Leader Leni Loud Robredo. Even better, the Opposition will be able to campaign themselves weekly by showing off what they're capable of.

What the current opposition needs to be is to STOP BEING ULOL. Yes, they need to really get over their fears of the unknown. They need to see the beauty of the parliamentary system will give them a better voice. Unfortunately, they shot themselves on the foot too many times by opposing reforms that could've benefited them. That's why they deserve to called ULOL because they never realized they too could've benefited from constitutional reform. Instead, their very own defective system has now boomeranged on their faces.