The minority

Not too long ago, the lines were clearly drawn between the majority and minority in the two chambers of Congress.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Turncoats or political butterflies were frowned upon, denoting weak principles and whimsical loyalties.

Today opportunistic party hopping is becoming entrenched as the rule rather than the exception.

A politician joins a party in hopes of being fielded for a particular elective post. Failing to get the nomination, the politician bolts and either joins another party or forms his/her own.

Because of the absence of a real party system, it's anything goes. Criticize politicians about flitting from one party to another and they will say, what party is there to speak of? We can see this in the way the majority and minority are shaping up in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 20th Congress.

For a long time, people associated the minority in both chambers as the group identified with the opposition or at least not allied with the administration majority.

I guess that definition worked when there were only a handful of established political parties. Pre-martial law, the Liberal and Nacionalista parties dominated.

Years after the party system was tossed out the window post-EDSA, there was dismayed surprise when for the first time, the minority leader in the House of Representatives also came from the majority but didn't vote for the speaker.

This has now become the norm in picking the minority leader in the HOR.

As for those deemed to belong to the traditional opposition and the "new" opposition identified with the Duterte camp, they can align themselves with any bloc that suits their purposes.

Those identified with the traditional opposition - the socalled pinks and yellows long associated with anti-Marcos forces are unlikely to align themselves with the "new" opposition, and are in fact more aligned with several key policies of Bongbong Marcos' administration.