In politics, there are no permanent friends and enemies.
One such example is the Duterte-Nograles feud which turned from bad to good after it was patched up during the 2016 campaign run of President Rodrigo Duterte which saw him and former political nemesis, the late former House Speaker Prospero Nograles, burry the hatchet.
But for as long as there is politics, the permanency or otherwise of friendships and political loyalties will always be compromised.
Recent turn of events in local politics in the Davao Region saw the same old issues of betrayals, jump-shippings and junking. In Davao Oriental, accusations of betrayal led to the eventual breakup of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago lineup which saw reelectionist Mati City Mayor Carlo Rabat ‘junked’ in favor of former mayor Michelle Rabat. The two Rabats are cousins. Another Rabat, incumbent Vice Mayor Glenda is running for reelection this time no longer as the runningmate of Mayor Carlo as part of the ‘brokered deal’ with the provincial HNP party leadership led by Governor Nelson Dayanghirang. The reported peddling of a Carlo-Glenda vote by supporters of Mayor Rabat resulted in the HNP leadership finally dropping him like a hot potato 12 days before election day. In a twist of events, HNP adopted the former mayor Michelle now as the official candidate because of what it claimed as “betrayal of trust.”
Poor Mayor Rabat was left by his lonesome now. That’s how politics evolves. One day, you’re allies, the next day foes.
There will always be two sides of the issue and after the breakup, there had been two versions of the story swinging from one side to another.
Seriously, if this is a betrayal of trust, it should not result to another betrayal.
By analogy, we look at relationships in a different way. If a woman is betrayed by his man, it is normal for her to break up with him because of that betrayal. But the society’s norms do not expect the woman to get another man to replace him right then and there and announce it to the world.
That’s not the case in this ugly world of politics. And that is why politics can never be a family or a relationship thing.
