We remember the story well. Against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his formidable party Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, Doy Laurel of UNIDO had no chance. The US had just prevailed upon Marcos to call for a snap election in 1986. Laurel was the logical choice being one of the leaders of the opposition then. But Cory Aquino then had captured the imagination of the Filipino people. The simple housewife of a fallen hero, Aquino channeled honesty and humility; she was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the very corrupt politics at that time. Laurel must have thought that it was his time, that it was now or never, that he had paid his dues as it were and deserved his turn, but he stepped aside and gave way. Aquino would become the standard bearer not only for the opposition but for majority Filipinos. Still today, scholars and politicians alike would recognize the heroism of Doy Laurel for that singular act of stepping aside for Cory Aquino. He exemplified realpolitik where politics is the art of compromise. The German statesman credited for unifying Germany in the 19th century, Otto von Bismarck, said it well: “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.”
This happenstance in our history would be repeated again in 2010. This time, the clear opposition leader was Senator Manuel “Mr. Palengke” Roxas. But the party was up against popular candidates in the 2010 elections, in particular, the come-backing, disgraced former President Erap Estrada and the early survey front-runner Senator Manny Villar. History repeated itself. Out of the blue, Noynoy Aquino, the son of the fallen hero Ninoy Aquino and the recently demised “champion of democracy” Cory Aquino, captured the imagination of the public. Mar Roxas conceded in behalf of the party and the country. And the rest is history. He was of course just being pragmatic; he compromised seeing how public sympathy went to Noynoy Aquino.
But we have contrary examples as well. In the next Presidential elections, Mar Roxas was up against Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who had already gained the admiration of the masa and the solid support of Visayas and Mindanao. The opposition needed to mount a unified front to withstand the latter’s popularity. But Senator Grace Poe would not concede. She felt it was then already her time and turn, no matter if she was still a political novice at that time. When the electoral dust settled, Duterte won, but the votes of Roxas and Poe combined were more than the votes he got. A missed opportunity. A failure in realpolitik. And so it came to pass; history saw the deadliest and most corrupt government ever in this country.
Despite these glaring lessons from our political history, it appears that we have not learned much. Last week, for instance, the Makabayan bloc in Congress has filed an impeachment complaint against President Bongbong Marcos, essentially for the corruption that has exploded in the public arena the past year. Asked what their evidence was that would implicate the President, they pointed to the Cabral files and Zaldy Co’s viral videos–really!? They would of course be filing impeachment complaints against VP Sarah Duterte too, they promised. In a later interview of former Congressman Teddy Casino, Facts First host Christian Esguerra asked whether it would be acceptable to them if BBM is impeached and Sarah, who enjoys the support of many Senators, is retained and constitutionally succeeds BBM as president. The former Congressman was visibly aghast and could only mumble some false legal gobbledygook.
Earlier this year, Rappler podcaster John Nery was also interviewing supposedly expert political analysts for their fearless forecast concerning the political scene this year. One legal expert warned that the political situation has become untenable and likely to explode. The President and the Vice-President must simply resign, he said. Then the Senate President, as required by the Constitution, would take over and then he could set up a Transition commission and call for an election next year. “Really,” the veteran journalist pressed him. “But that is not in the constitution at all!”
Where these experts and political actors fail is precisely in realpolitik. In “Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future,” Patrick J. Deneen, a Catholic political thinker, dissects where Liberal democracy has failed. The left, he writes, have abandoned the working class. For our experts for example to just simply set aside the millions of votes that BBM got fair and square (barring any evidence to the contrary) which their candidate did not win is to insult what he calls the “wisdom of the people.” As for the liberal ideologues and politicians, they started alienating the common folks with their aggressive pursuit of freedom even from long cherished traditions and values, he writes, for instance, in the area of sexual or identity politics. Both then lost the common touch and the support of people. He advocated a middle way. What he calls the “mixed constitution,” which would require of course working with and for the common people and a lot of pragmatism and even compromise. Dealing with the politics of his time, Cardinal Sin had a phrase for this: critical collaboration. That is, to be willing to work with everyone of any political persuasion as far as possible in order to achieve the common cause or the common ground. That is realpolitik.
