This morning I attended the National Convention of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party at PICC. I twitted it on Facebook. My best friend asked me why I was still with Lakas, when to be linked with Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's party would mean the 'kiss of death' to any aspiring politician.
His question reminded me of the answer of one former cabinet secretary on why he joined an opposition party as its senatorial candidate. The guy said he and his showbiz wife scoured their province and asked for the pulse of the people. Allegedly, their constituents wanted them to support Noynoy Aquino because he gave them hope. Noynoy was the standard bearer of the Liberal Party. And that's why the former lawmaker jumped ship to LP. To run under the party of Noynoy.
In a sense, the LP has become Noynoy's Party.
And this is precisely the reason why I remain with Lakas-Kampi-CMD. Not because of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Not because of Gilbert Teodoro. Not because of any person, past or present.
I am with Lakas-Kampi-CMD the same way Al Gore was with the Democratic Party. The same way John McCain stuck it out with the Republicans. The same way Gordon Brown is with the Labour Party. And the same way why Angela Merkel is with the Christian Democrat Union.
Because we believe in our party.
We believe in its principles and ideology.
Lakas-Kampi-CMD is not about GMA or Gibo.
It's about respecting the rights and dignity of every person.
It's about advocating for policies rooted with Christian values.
it's all about the attainment of the common good as the objective of political society.
it's not being too liberal, and it's not being too conservative. It's being at the center.
it's adhering to Aristotle's teachings on balance and obtaining what Ateneo Prof. Ibana taught me in Philo. class as the 'medyo-medyo'--the mean.
To be specific, to believe in Lakas means to be liberal enough to believe in the free market economy. Let the market decide for itself. But at the same time to also be conservative enough to believe in some regulation, so that incidents like Lehman Brothers and the Sub-Prime Crisis could be avoided.
This, in a nut shell, is what Lakas means to me.
And I remain loyal to it--GMA's kiss notwithstanding.
Because the party, like i said, should be about ideology. Not about personality.
Eh kung hindi rin lang, eh 'wag na tayo maglokohan. Abolish the Nacionalista Party and call it Villar's Team. Abolish the Liberal Party and name it Noynoy's Posse. And abolish Lakas-Kampi-CMD and rename it to Gloria's Group.
