Weekly Brief
The first step the Philippine Opposition needs to take to rebuild its camp is to admit to itself that it lost the 2022 elections.
In review and in prospect
“Let me repeat: Nothing was wasted. We did not lose. All our efforts would only go to waste if we stop now and go back to our old ways. As I’ve said: Those who have been awakened can no longer be blind. So come on. Let us continue fighting for the Philippines we are all dreaming of.” - Leni Robredo (translated from Tagalog to English by Rappler “reporter” Mara Cepeda
And so begins the efforts of the Philippine Opposition to “rebuild” following total decimation by this year by the administration camp. Where do they begin? Cepeda offers some clues…
Learning from the painful lesson of the past six years, Robredo has vowed to lead efforts to break the massive disinformation network on social media once she steps down as Vice President on June 30.
How exactly Robredo plans to do that is anybody's guess. She has six years to do just that, of course. The question is, was it really “disinformation” that cost her and her Yellowtard camp what, by all accounts, was one of Philippine history's most “important” elections? But then to even get to answering that question, Robredo and her followers will first need to come to terms with the fact that they did lose that election — something that may itself be a monumental challenge considering Robredo personally believes they “did not lose”.
Common rehab wisdom dictates that the first step an alcoholic needs to take down the path to recovery is to admit to herself that she is, in fact, an alcoholic. Perhaps Robredo may find a way to “break the massive disinformation network on social media”. Until then, however, she and her lot will likely spend the next several months continuing to remind anyone who bothers to listen that “disinformation” is the “evil” behind her massive electoral loss. The other challenge is to sustain a supply of people who will continue to listen to her.
It is only when the Yellowtards acknowledge that the better candidates who ran the superior campaign won that they themselves will strive to be better candidates and craft a better campaign. However, if they continue to believe that they are “victims” of “disinformation”, they will end up wasting time and effort “fighting” this imagined bogey instead of working on making their lot better at winning elections.
All this assumes that the Yellowtards will lead the Philippine Opposition again. Cepeda, for her part seems to think they will. She writes, “for now, many of those in the opposition hold on to Robredo’s words when she accepted her electoral defeat – that the fight for good governance does not end in 2022. It has to go on, more than ever now.” What Cepeda means exactly when she claims “many of those in the opposition” share Robredo’s hopeful appraisal of what is to come is, of course, a mystery. It is unlikely that the more intelligent elements in the broader Philippine Opposition who know what is good for them would still touch the Robredo “KakamPink” brand even with a ten-foot pole. Insanity, after all (as Albert Einstein was said to have said), is expecting a different result while doing the same thing again and again.
Last week's blog posts
What is national security, and why is it misunderstood?
June 17, 2022 by The Unpopular Opinion
"Even though national security was originally thought of discouraging, deterring, and defending against any military attack, its dimensions have transformed in various ways. Nevertheless, its primary objective of improving a nation-state’s chances of survival has never changed."