Photo credit: Chel Diokno

The Great Betrayal of Congress’ So-called Moral Voices

As the 20th Congress opens today, July 28, it’s easy to speak out for democracy when the damage is already done. But the real test is standing up before the crisis becomes obvious , when betrayal hides behind procedures and passes off as routine politics.

Take Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno, who issued a scathing statement after the Supreme Court junked the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

According to Diokno, “the people lost,” and so did “the fight for accountability.” But he’s painfully late.

Accountability didn’t die with the Court’s ruling. It was dead on arrival the moment Diokno and other supposed progressives signed off on a fake Minority leadership in the House.

When it mattered, they were not defenders of democracy. They enabled its quiet erosion.

We would have preferred Diokno as Minority Leader himself. Or Leila de Lima, who paid with years of imprisonment.

Even Percival Cendana, once a loud voice for progressive ideals, now a self-styled moralist who quickly lent credibility to a fake Minority. Or Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, no stranger to standing in the rain when the tide is against the people.

But none stepped up. Worse, they all backed 4P's Rep. Marcelino Libanan’s return as Minority Leader, a man known not for dissent but for staying comfortably invisible when tyranny thrives.

Other congressmen also joined the so-called Minority bloc. But many of them are widely perceived as too closely aligned with the Majority to offer real opposition, raising doubts about whether this bloc represents authentic dissent at all.

Now, Akbayan and its allies loudly rail against the Supreme Court over the VP impeachment ruling, but were deafeningly silent when they helped hand the Minority to a Speaker-approved stooge.

That betrayal did more damage to the opposition than any court decision.

What kind of “opposition” is this? What kind of reform bloc joins the charade of an obedient Minority, handpicked not by conscience but by convenience?

Let’s rewind. When they were not yet elected, ah, sorry, selected, since not one of them got a single vote for themselves, they were loud, proud, and self-righteous.

They always claimed Congress was a rubberstamp under the Speaker’s control, at least back when they weren’t part of it.

But when it mattered? Not only did they fail to speak out, even Kabataan Party-list and other loud ‘pro-people’ politicos joined the farce without even symbolic resistance.
They became accomplices to the very Speaker they once condemned. Collaborators with the same Majority they claimed to resist.

For what? Committee chairmanships? Office allocations? Access to AICS, AKAP, TUPAD? PORK? All courtesy of the same Speaker they used to accuse of patronage?

This wasn’t compromise, it was them folding like cheap umbrellas, then calling it strategy.

Now they wail about ‘democratic setbacks’ and ‘lost accountability’? Coming from the same crowd that gift-wrapped the Minority and handed it to the Speaker. Talaga lang ha?

You cannot denounce the Supreme Court while ignoring your own betrayal of principle.

It mocks the public’s intelligence. It cheapens your words.

This was never about Libanan. He’s just the jumbo-sized mascot, obedient, and harmless. A safe pick for a Minority that was never meant to oppose anything.

The real letdown? Diokno’s bloc stayed silent. Not even a token stand or a symbolic nomination of a genuine fiscalizer.

We used to admire Diokno for his low-key resolve. Proof that you didn’t have to be loud to be brave.

But silence in the face of this farce speaks louder than any statement.

This, from the son of Sen. Jose W. Diokno, a man who stood firm against dictatorship, who chose prison over silence, who never traded principle for safety.

Ka Pepe would have denounced this betrayal. The silence of his son is not just disappointing, it’s a betrayal of the very legacy he invokes.

We are no legal experts. We defer to the legal minds on the Court’s ruling.

But we are appalled by the hypocrisy of those pretending to be champions of accountability, while having done everything to undermine it.

Diokno’s group had a chance to reshape the Minority. They could have taken a real stand, not just in tweets, but in the halls of power.

They chose silence.

You can deny it all you want. But how do you explain joining a “Minority” led by a barong-wearing Speaker’s bobblehead, always nodding, never thinking, that everyone knows is the Speaker’s favorite political footstool?

There’s still time to correct course.

But Chel Diokno must choose: live up to his father’s legacy, or fade into irrelevance as just another smart man who stayed quiet when it mattered most.

At sa totoo lang, ang mas masahol pa sa mga trapo ay ang mga nagpapanggap na banal.

Ipokrito ang tawag diyan.

Ang tapang magsalita noon, pero ngayon, puro ngiting maka-tao, galaw maka-trapo.

At sila pa ang may ganang magsabing “natalo ang katotohanan”?

Hindi po, Ginoong Diokno. Nilampaso ng grupo ninyo ang katotohanan. Kayo mismo.

Ed Javier

Ed Javier is a veteran communicator with over 34 years of professional experience both in the private and public sectors. He is also an entrepreneur, political analyst, newspaper columnist, broadcast and on-line journalist.