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Sonny Politics

APPARENTLY, LIBERAL Party (LP)-National continues to have confidence in Hilario "Junjun" Davide III, despite his defeat in the 2010 elections. And when it comes to the election of the governor of Cebu in 2013, he heads the list of those that the party will support. But former senator John Henry "Sonny" Osmena has someone else in mind.

Instead of Davide, Sonny wants a choice from four personalities--Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, Cebu 4th District Benhur Salimbangon, former tourism secretary Joseph Ace Durano, and 6th District representative Luis Quisumbing. These choices reflect more how Sonny's politics work, or how his mind works, than how LP thinks in choosing candidates for government offices. Because incidentally all these four politicians are One Cebu allies, a local party that opposed LP in the 2010 national elections.

But that way of thinking is not surprising for Sonny. Although he started his political career as a Liberal in 1963, he was no solid Liberal. He switched to National Peoples Coalition in 1992, became a Genuine Opposition in 2007, and then back to LP in 2009. His  background shows a politics of convenience, not of principle.

Unexpectedly, the LP of Mar Roxas and President Noynoy Aquino plays a politics of principle, more than of convenience. This is not saying that many of the current members of LP had not been members of other political parties. The point I am making is, what guides the LP selection these days is moral integrity first, and other characteristics second. There is wisdom in this approach. A leader that lacks moral integrity can become a dangerous liability compared to someone with integrity but still has to prove himself a leader. Look what happened to National Bureau of Investigation Director Magtanggol Gatdula. His alleged involvement in the illegal detention of a Japanese national did not say about his competence in the position. Somewhere, moral integrity broke down. 

What Sonny missed is this: staying morally upright demands more character strength than political adeptness, which old politicos call "leadership." His view of Davide as "weak" is a colored perception of a politician brought up in old politics.

The new politics that the Aquino-Roxas tandem have espoused can be incomprehensible to those whose blood and bones had its being in old politics.

There is also one fact that Sonny seems to miss, or perhaps chose to disregard. As national president of the party, Roxas has a strong say on who will be fielded for the gubernatorial post. It is not Sonny who will chose the candidate; but Mar and PNoy eventually. So his noise is more an indicator of raging ego than respecting the wisdom of the LP leadership.

At the end of the day, Sonny does not represent the best values of the Liberal Party. Instead of insisting for his own political favorites, he would do well to help the national leadership in strengthening the political campaign of whoever the party will choose to win Cebu to the LP values. This approach may not put him on the spot of Cebu politics as a "king maker" but he will stay faithful to the values that President PNoy espoused in his presidency, and supported by a large majority of the Filipino people.
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