Yes, we (oro)can!
You cannot do a disservice to the people now and expect to be accommodated in 2028, when the tide begins to turn. Such a firm stance is the only cure for ‘orocanism.’
“Orocan” is the trademark of a popular manufacturer of buckets, water drums, dippers (tabo, indispensable in a Filipino bathroom), and even cabinets and closets. All made of plastic. It has thus become Filipino slang — nay, a colloquialism — for “plastic,” in the sense of a person being malleable, unprincipled, ready to change sides as it suits his or her purposes; a hypocrite, a demagogue.
In the Philippines, there is no shortage of that sort of politician. Sometimes they are busted (so to speak) by the people and fail to get elected or are voted out of office. But more often, the collective electorate’s short memory rewards their duplicity with a seat or reelection.
This is a defect of our race that has brought us to where we are today: a pathetic Third World country, in reality, if not in a ranking system that is basically a construct of global organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
As the political season once again nears, and that political circus called the impeachment trial races to its resolution, “orocanism” (a word I coined and should copyright) once again rears its ugly head.
First, we have people like Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima, self-declared liberals and sworn defenders (kuno) of civil and political rights, who have filed bills seeking to decriminalize libel since it is supposedly being used to silence dissent and harass critics, only to use the same libel laws to silence dissent and harass critics.
Then we have former Yellows (Guanzon is a prime example), who vociferously vilified Vice President Sara Duterte, Senators Dante Marcoleta and Robin Padilla, and the Opposition a scant year and a half ago, now cozying up to the same people they excoriated after they received a drubbing in the 2025 polls.
To quote from Boy George’s song, Karma Chameleon: “I’m a man without conviction/You come and go/Every day is like survival/You come and go.”
This festering problem has led to political party affiliations in the Philippines becoming like mere clothing: to be shed and changed as the occasion calls for it. Such an absence of clear ideological purity has led to a party system that is a cesspool of opportunism and political backstabbing that has stunted the political maturity of our body politic.
As much as I hate the Communists in this country, I must grudgingly admit that the reason they have survived all these years (if marginally clinging to the lunatic fringes of the political landscape) is their ideological consistency that has earned them a loyal — if minuscule — following. (Although methinks a foolish consistency in favor of an outdated and discredited political theory is a dubious virtue.)
That is why our Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) acting chairman Alfonso Cusi had to declare it in pithy language during the PDP National Assembly last 25 July: There will be no space in the party for turncoats.
You cannot do a disservice to the people now and expect to be accommodated in 2028, when the tide begins to turn. Such a firm stance is the only cure for “orocanism.”
You must walk the talk or risk becoming merely a household fixture: a bucket, a drum or a tabo, which will truly make your continued presence in politics taboo.