No matter how much its handlers deny it, the Otso Diretso ticket of the Liberal Party (LP) has obvious indications of disunity and ultimate defeat in the coming May elections.

So far, the most obvious indication of disunity was the conspicuous absence of its main candidate, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, at its kick-off campaign rally. According to LP apologists, Roxas was occupied with other important concerns.

That excuse is very flimsy and difficult to believe because Roxas is seen both as the main candidate of the LP ticket and the purported leader of the political opposition in the country; his presence at the kick-off rally was important, as it was indispensable.

For Roxas to have something else more important in his agenda other than being in that key campaign activity, then the remaining seven candidates in the Otso Diretso ticket should consider themselves abandoned by their supposed leader. If they know what is good for them, they should resign themselves to being on their own as the election homestretch approaches.

Paolo Benigno Aquino, the first cousin of ex-President Benigno Aquino III and who goes by the nickname Bam, has not done anything to improve the chances of his fellow candidates in the coming polls. All he has done is to rely on the name recall he enjoys from both his incumbency as a senator and from his surname.

In an obvious attempt to exploit his relationship to ex-Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Bam makes it a point to look like his martyred uncle. The physical resemblance may be there, but the nephew is a pale comparison to the uncle. Six years in the Senate and the nephew has no legislation of consequence with him as the main sponsor.

All that should explain why Bam hardly speaks up during the campaign sorties of the LP. His lack of substance will give him away as a poor copy of his uncle.

Roxas and Aquino make up the first tier in the Otso Diretso ticket on account of their having served, no matter how dismally, in the Senate. If they manage getting inside the magic circle of 12 winning senatorial candidates, it will in all likelihood be because two candidates from the competition may end up disqualified for office.

Ex-military mutineer Gary Alejano is in the second tier because he is an outgoing partylist representative in Congress.

Alejano’s political baggage is his being an ex-military mutineer. Many voters do not trust him because when he was still a soldier, he participated in an unsuccessful coup attempt against his own commander-in-chief, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In doing so, Alejano violated his oath to support the Constitution and defend the duly-constituted government of the Republic. Because he violated his oath, voters have no reason to trust him with higher public office.

In the third tier of the ticket are ex-Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III and lawyers Jose Manuel Diokno and Romulo Macalintal. Their campaign statements are hollow and pointless as seen in their sorties in Naga City which were covered by the news media.

Tañada comported himself as condescending and conceited. After criticizing an administration candidate for coming out with a motion picture on that candidate’s life, Tañada declared that the LP candidates do not need a motion picture to promote themselves because all the LP candidates are very intelligent.

If that were so, why are Tañada and his group optimistic of victory?

Diokno copied an old 1986 campaign line from ex-President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. He said that although he has no record of elective public office, he had no criminal record. Is that enough reason for one to get elected to the Senate? Good grief!

Macalintal made inconsequential statements about himself which are not helping him because many voters see him as the personal lawyer of President Aquino III and of many politicians associated with the discredited LP.

The remaining candidates make up the fourth and final tier of Otso Diretso. They are virtually unknown or unheard of and have consistently landed far outside the winning circle of candidates. Why they even bothered to run under the LP is a mystery.

At the end of the day, the biggest counterargument against popular support for the LP is the party’s failure to attract enough candidates to fill up a 12-man slate. If politicians don’t trust the LP, then the electorate should not do so, either.