HISTORY is filled with power-sharing agreements that pursued cooperation and harmony, but in truth, they ended up with betrayal and tragedy for the losers.
Amid the Philippine Senate impasse, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano made overtures to Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian for a power-sharing agreement. Senator Cayetano would be confined to certain powers and authority over the Senate, while Senator Gatchalian would be given his own expanded responsibilities. This sounds logical for the peace and stability of a fractured Republic, but it also reminded me of power-sharing agreements that eventually fell apart in history.
From the late 1930s to the 1940s, the Japanese empire occupied vast portions of China, including the wealthy coastal provinces and mineral-rich Manchuria. Following the Xian Incident where Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek was detained by his own generals, the communist head Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek formed an alliance to fight the Japanese in a war of national resistance. Together, they successfully routed the Japanese through convention and guerrilla warfare. The agreement, however, only lasted until the last Japanese soldier left China at the end of World War II. Eventually, the agreement unraveled, and the Chinese communists attacked the Chiang’s Nationalists and chased them off the mainland until they found refuge in the island of Formosa, now Taiwan.
Earlier than that broken agreement, Empress Dowager Cixi convinced the chief consort, Empress Ci’an, to unite in defeating the eight selected regents authorized by the deceased emperor, Xianfeng, to mentor his heir and rule the Chinese empire until his son came of age. The two women collaborated and divided the spoils of power after deposing the regents — executing one, imprisoning five of them and pressuring two to commit suicide. However, their partnership gave way to competing visions and rivalries of what China should be in the modern world. Empress Dowager Cixi wanted more foreign trade from Western nations and the modernization of her navy and railways, which eventually sparked the Boxer rebellion. Tragically, the emperor’s only five-year-old surviving heir, Emperor Tongzhi, died from smallpox and was followed suit by Empress Ci’an, who fell ill from despondence. Empress Cixi had to install her adopted nephew on the throne, to continue the dynasty amid this turbulent period in China’s history.
In the early formation of the Philippine nation, there was likewise an attempt for power-sharing between Bonifacio’s Magdiwang and Aguinaldo’s Magdalo factions. Elections for the leadership in the revolutionary government were held in Tejeros, Cavite to settle their differences. Rebuked and ridiculed, KKK founder Andres Bonifacio denounced the elections and chose to oppose the Cavite faction. Off the foothills of Maragondon, Bonifacio was arrested, shot and hacked to death on orders of the Aguinaldo-led military tribunal.
Power-sharing agreements work in the beginning but eventually ebb and falter, since power is indivisible and exclusively craved. It can rarely be apportioned among fiercely competitive forces, especially those who are insatiable and overly ambitious. This is one of the reasons why the American Founding Fathers sought to distribute state powers across the legislative, judicial and executive branches. History teaches us that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So, when Senator Cayetano enticed Senator Gatchalian to share the Senate presidency to ease the intense divisiveness in the Senate, this may end up succumbing to a death by a thousand cuts. One can easily fall into the trap of false harmony, but beneath the surface, the rage simmers and bubbles up toward a full-blown bloodbath.
Better for Senator Gatchalian to hold his ground now than be betrayed later. The Senate presidency is not a jeepney ride to be shared nor high-stakes poker game to be gambled. It is a sacred institution that must rise above political convenience and selfish machinations to cling to power. If an outright vote is necessary, then the Senate must face the showdown as stated in our democratic processes. It is crucial to stress-test our democratic institutions from time to time, and determine whether they remain resilient in a changing Philippine society.
History has shown that power-sharing may postpone the conflict, but the struggle for dominance will be unleashed at the end.
