Beyond elections

IT is easy to dismiss the ongoing discord within the body politic as mere squabbles among scheming family dynasties. But the incompetence and excesses of the incumbent regime cannot also be hidden for long. As a consequence, protest groups revolving on varied issues are rising. Old political formations are revitalizing their constituencies. A fresh spectrum of both ideological and nonideological forces is forming and rapidly expanding. Amid the frenzied government expansion of its own political base, a clearer line of division between those for and those against the present government establishment has been drawn.

During the People Power revolution of 1986, Cory Aquino, the widow of the martyred Ninoy Aquino, provided the face of the struggle against the Marcos family dictatorship. In 2001, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the then-vice president, served a similar role in the ouster of President Erap Estrada. Today's incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, deducing from her recent pronouncements, may already be favoring the emerging extra-constitutional push for early regime change. This is significant. The coming of a clear and viable leadership is an essential ingredient to the successful ouster of an undeserving regime.