2 opposition groups seem to form in 20th Congress

There appear to be two groups of opposition to the Marcos administration in the 20th Congress – one includes those who support Vice President Sara Duterte, while the other has in its ranks those who opposed former President Rodrigo Duterte, including Sen. Risa Hontiveros and presumptive returning senators Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan and Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV.

The latter also includes former Sen. Leila De Lima and Atty. Chel Diokno, whose party-lists are winning in the midterm elections.

According to Maki Pulido's report on "24 Oras," Prof. Jean Franco of the UP Department of Political Science said it appears important for De Lima's group to steer clear of being aligned with the Duterte camp.

"The reason perhaps why De Lima said they will be an independent opposition is because they want to veer away from the Duterte opposition," Franco said.

Prof. Aries Arugay, the chairman of the UP Department of Political Science, said Duterte's supporters might not be open to collaboration because they opposed the administration after the Marcos and Duterte camps had a falling out.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte ran and won together under the UniTeam coalition in 2022.

"Once the UniTeam broke up naririnig na natin noon pa mga Duterte-based or Duterte-loyal politicians, they started behaving like opposition," Arugay said.

(When the UniTeam broke up, we already saw politicians supporting Duterte start to behave like the opposition.)

However, Franco said the term opposition isn't clear under the country's system.

"In a 2-party system, malinaw yun kung incumbent di mo kapartido, ikaw opposition. Sa sistema natin na masyadong maraming political parties... Talagang ang mangyayari iba-iba ang opposition," Franco said. –Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/NB, GMA Integrated News

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