The longest election cycle in the world has finally come to an end. We really should embark on political structure reform because so much time and money is wasted on each Presidential election cycle.
Other parliamentary democacy’s spend three weeks at the maximum when a no-confidence motion triggers the resignation of the Prime Minister and elections are held to form a new government. In our case, it is a winner-take-all situation from national to local posts.
Marcos’ electoral victory has wiped out the opposition in the Legislative. A source privy to what has been discussed has revealed that the next Senate President is likely to be Cynthia Villar, Sen. Imee Marcos is Senate President Pro-Tempore while Sen. Migz Zubiri will continue on as Majority Floor Leader.
The Senate majority will be composed of Gatchalian and Villanueva (reelectionists); Escudero, Legarda, Ejercito and Estrada (returning senators); Padilla, Tulfo and Mark Villar (neophytes); and incumbent Senators Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Manuelito “Lito” Lapid, Mary Grace Poe, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Francis Tolentino.
The minority will be made up of returning senator Alan Peter Cayetano with incumbent Senators Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd as well as reelectionist Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros as members.
At the House of Representatives, the Speakership is a toss-up between House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez or Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The exact composition of the lower house has not yet been finalized but it is safe to say that there will also be a token opposition. The majority will likely be made up of Lakas-CMD, NUP, NPC and the PFP. The minority will be the leftist-militant party-list groups and whichever party’s or party-list groups which will choose to align with them.
The ranks of the opposition in the upper and lower chamber has been decimated due to their irresponsible and irrational behavior. Once the Comelec official tally is in, the 2022 election will set records given the huge winning margin of President-elect Marcos and Vice-President-elect Duterte. It was the opposition’s worst nightmare come true.
We now come a point where the opposition has been decimated because they have not been representing the public interest sincerely and responsibly. They are not focused on nation-building but destablization, ouster and plain old politicking instead of fiscalizing.
In a representative democracy, there is a need for an opposition to fiscalize and ensure checks and balances in the system. The question is now, who will stand up as the new opposition?
This is not made better by the continuing refusal of Leni Robredo to concede. She appeared on a Facebook livestream yesterday to show off the gifts she received from her supporters throughout the campaign. It appears that her loss has hit her very hard and still cannot come to terms with it. The scheduled thanksgiving party for her volunteers will be at the Ateneo grounds tonight. She then leaves immediately for New York to attend her youngest daughter’s graduation. It looks as if MaDumb has gone bonkers.
In the meantime, the Duterte administration has formed a transition committee headed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, to coordinate the turnover with the incoming Marcos administration.
A list of potential Cabinet members leaked yesterday and has been doing the rounds of social media. At first glance, it does not make an impression but more about this in a another blog post.
The Marcos administration will also face a challenge from mainstream media judging from a Twitter Space I participated in yesterday organized by the Puma Podcast of Roby Alampay. More on this also in another blog post.
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