MANILA, Philippines — The primary opposition needs to have a “consensus” on the Duterte question following the “misunderstanding” between two of its prominent figures, a political analyst said on Thursday.
University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco made such remarks amid the perceived cracks with the group as former Sen. Sonny Trillanes IV slammed Sen. Bam Aquino on his remarks pertaining to the jurisdiction of the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJK) under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
“I don’t think you can call it a division at this point,” Franco told Inquirer in a phone interview. “Maybe it’s probably just a misunderstanding.”
Not solid to begin with
But for another analyst, this incident just shows that the “opposition is not a solid coalition to begin with.”
“The alliance is clearly weak and informal,” said Michael Henry Yusingco, a non-resident research fellow at the Ateneo School of Government, in an interview with Inquirer on Friday.
“Each component-group has its own agenda. And this fact is being clearly displayed in this instance where grievances are immediately aired in media and social media,” he added.
“A disciplined political party or coalition would have clarified this matter internally first. But here, various stakeholders within this grouping thought it better to project their agenda first even if doing this would be perceived as ‘infighting’.”
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Trilanes slams Aquino
Aquino on Tuesday said that the EJKs should “ideally” be tried in Philippine courts, a remark that did not sit well with Trillanes.
Trillanes was one of the parties which filed complaints against Duterte, who has since been detained in the International Criminal Court (ICC) facility since March last year over alleged crimes against humanity during his term as the president and mayor of Davao City.
The former senator further said such remarks were “insensitive and unfair”, even doubling down when Aquino’s supporters pointed out that the senator said his remarks only apply in an ideal situation.
“As for those who will explain away [the statements] by saying that you said ‘ideally’, it is clear from what you all told me during the 2022 campaign that you WILL NOT SEND Digong to The Hague even if there is an ICC arrest warrant,” Trillanes said in a Facebook post in Filipino on Wednesday.
“Besides, we also know that the justice system here is far from ideal, especially for the powerful, so what is the point of your statement?” Trillanes further said.
Bigger picture
Yusingco said such politicized discourse on matters like this also risks missing the bigger picture.
“The harsh lesson here is that partisan blinders prevent us from seeing the bigger picture,” Yusingco said in a Facebook post.
“And narrowing our lens makes us miss much needed solutions to our problems.”
Yusingco further wrote: “For instance, what reforms do we need to ensure that our legal system can handle crimes against humanity perpetuated by Filipinos? We will probably never know since many of us have accepted that this is virtually impossible. That it’s simply much better to concede to a foreign tribunal. Colonial mentality rearing its ugly head again.”
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Aquino, for his part, has yet to clarify his statement.
Wake up call
“Maybe he does not want to be misinterpreted further, and he maybe thinks that the issue will just die and be forgotten,” Franco said of Aquino.
“But really, it could provide an opening for the opposition to think about ways that would make them have a consensus on how to think about the Duterte issues,” she continued.
This issue also came on the heels of Vice President Sara Duterte’s announcement that she will be running for the 2028 presidential elections.
The vice president has been a frontrunner on presidential surveys.
“Clearly, the Dutertes are still very much a divisive figure in politics right now,” Franco said. “She wants politicians to really explicitly state whether they are for or against Sara Duterte; I think she wanted politicians to already draw the line.”
“It can be a wake-up call for the opposition to settle everything that has to do with the Dutertes,” she continued.
Yusingco said: “In its current form, the ‘opposition’ will be extremely disadvantaged in the 2028 presidential race. /mr /gsg