Memories of Politics; Politics of Memories

The air is filled with politics. I want to use that word "redolent." I want to use the word "reeking." We all can smell politics.

I can even smell the memory of politics.

But memory can deceive or mystify. At present, the Liberal Party has become once more the formidable party that it was. During the Marcos regime, this party had altogether disappeared. In its place was this machinery called the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL). Many politicians were swallowed by this party. The spin-doctor of the dictatorship then was so wicked that all movements and programs were covered by those three letters. The program of the National Food Authority to make available affordable canned goods and other basic commodities at low cost was managed under the rubric "Kadiwa sa Bagong Lipunan' ("KBL" again).

When as a young, newly employed employee I coordinated the free medical services and distribution of medicine in selected rural communities in Bikol, we were instructed to prepare a streamer with words "Kalusugan sa Bagong Lipunan." There was another instruction: the first letter of each word should be in red, to read "KBL" again.

What about the medicine kits plastered with this label "M.A.R.C.O.S (which stood for Medical Assistance for Rural Communities and Other Sectors)? We were acronym wizards.

That political party called KBL practically swallowed the two oldest political parties, the Nacionalista and the Liberal Party. Before Marcos, there were just these two parties. You were either part of the NP or the LP. Families and clans were linked to these two political parties. Villages and towns were divided according to these two parties. Quarrels and conflicts between families were caused by people's affiliation to these parties.

In between the two parties were the independent parties of varying persuasions and level of sanity. These parties were not considered relevant except, at a certain period, for one, a party called PPP or Progressive Party of the Philippines. The party was formed by Manuel Manahan and Raul Manglapus after the demise of Ramon Magsaysay. Manahan would run for the presidency against Carlos P. Garcia. He lacked the machinery of the more traditional politician. They were not called "trapo" then; that age was so gilded and it was not ready for that gross label.

Like Manahan, Manglapus also ran for presidency even as he lacked the machinery and the backing of a strong political party. He lost to Marcos in 1965, the election that would enable Marcos to change the constitution and stay on for some 20 years.