Third Space: Rebuilding people's hope

The run-up towards the 2028 elections has sparked excitement on the emergence of new leaders from the ranks of the opposition.

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Speaking at a pre-SONA forum sponsored by Akbayan Partylist, ML Partylist Rep. Leila de Lima called for a Third Space pro-people alternative anchored on democratic principles.

She observed that: "...the real state of our nation reveals itself not in statistics, but in silences. Sa mga taong ayaw pag-usapan ng gobyerno. Sa mga katotohanang minamaliit, at sa mga pag-aabuso ng pinipiling balewalain (In people that government does not want to speak about. In realities that are being shunted into the sidelines, and abuses that are not being acted upon)."

Evidently, she and her colleagues in the opposition are assessing the evolving political landscape. Both Marcos and Duterte camps are engaged in tit-for-tat revolving around the detention at The Hague of former President Rodrigo Duterte and the impeachment complaint against the Vice President.

Favored by a Supreme Court decision that declared her impeachment as unconstitutional, Sara Duterte obtained a reprieve that allows her to vigorously rally support behind her father.

Smarting from the anemic showing of his ticket in the May 2025 midterm elections, President Marcos emerged from his SONA with both barrels blazing. He declared war against corruption, then warned that he will veto the 2026 budget to be passed by Congress if this is not aligned with his administration's National Expenditure Program (NEP).

This is a wounded warrior's stance — combative and assertive, the polar opposite of the lame duck profile normally ascribed to single-term Presidents. Evidently, President Marcos wants to defy precedents.

But history is on the side of the opposition.