All Aboard! July 13, 1946

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS EDITORIAL

ALL ABOARD!
July 13, 1946

The Congress of the Philippines has been likened by the irreverent boys of the press to a railroad company. The simile is not inappropriate due to the propensity of the majority members of both Houses know that they owe to the President as much as to their own personal brilliance and vote-getting power, if any, their election to office.

Against the pious determination of the majority to do as the Boss wishes, the minority men have raged and pounded and declaimed —in vain. Malacañan wants this particular measure to be passed? “All aboard, boys!” the party whips cry. Malacañan does not like this one? The train comes to a shrieking stop.

Yet the presence of a vocal and active minority in congress augurs well for the infant Republic’s venture into democracy. There was no minority at all, when the Greatest Boss of Them All [Quezon] was still around. Then there was even talk of a “partyless democracy” which, critics pointed out, would be neither partyless, in practice, nor a democracy. There would be only one party and no democracy. Now there are two parties. Now there is a minority—ineffective, so far, and uncertain, but in the long run likely to prove beneficial and salutary.