What kind of threat is that?

One could say “only in the Philippines.”

Inq7 reports that various members of the Arroyo administration have issued verbal warnings to members of Congress that if they seek the impeachment of the President, the Administration will not support them in next year’s elections.  

 The question in my mind is,  “whi is that a threat worth making?” (in this case by no less than the Presidential Chief of Staff and the Presidential political adviser).  In a mature democracy, the support of a President facing impeachment charges would be worth nothing.  I haven’t looked at the recent polls but I’ll bet a large percentage of voters believe she should be impeached.  If that were so, then her support in the 2007 elections should have no political capital.  If I were a politician, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near her.  After all, proximity is implied complicity.

But we must remind ourselves that we are in the Philippines — where the political system exists only in form, not in substance.  Sometimes I think we should tear down that xenotaph in Quezon Circle for the idiot who desired a government run like hell by Filipinos.  Half a century later and his dream is still a reality. And in our political system Presidential support isn’t about the popularity of the President (and her vote-getting skills), it pertains to something else altogether.  (Let’s not discuss the obvious, shall we?)  Suffice it to say that there’s more than one way to get votes and when it comes to politics, Filipinos are avid free-market proponents (laissez faire at its best). 

That’s why the threat of withdrawing Presidential support is so powerful.  It resonates with politicians who need such support to remain in the game.  That the threat is worth making in such a public way implies that moral weakness can be overcome by economic strength.  In a free market, that works because economic efficiency is far more virtuous than correctness.  In a political system, however, I’m not too sure.