IN A TWO or multiparty system, there is no such thing as a common ethos or guiding belief as to who between the executive and the legislative should provide the leadership role in policy-making.

This is easy to see in the fact that each party has its own ideology or program of government, or at least their ambition to take over at the helm or control the decision-making.

Further strengthening that political reality is the fact that, by law and practice, the executive annual budget, for instance, is passed in review by the legislature, giving the latter its own mind about how the annual budget may be apportioned along the need for growth and development.

So, as it has happened in our political life, the proportion that each budgetary item recommended by the governor (or the mayor) may be questioned and even reallocated.

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Such a case happened lately between Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas’s executive 2008 annual budget and that of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, which is dominated by board members in opposition to the governor.

The issue is now before the courts. How might the courts decide on whose budget should prevail? We hope it would be in the likes of court decisions in California, Connecticut, Ohio, New Jersey, and Washington in the United States which called for both executive and legislative action, or an executive-legislative agenda – meaning, both branches of government should have to work out a common budget, and not just one of them dominating or providing the leadership role.

In our earlier discussion here, we suggested the forming of an Advisory Budgetary Council, composed of representatives of the governor and the SP with a DBM official presiding.

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Such political division would also earn the ire of political groups against members who clearly show disloyalty to their groups, like playing whistleblower or publicly accusing any other member that tends to dishonor that other member, the group leadership, or the group’s image before the electorate.

This has happened to Iloilo Board Member Emmanuel “Manny” Gallar who was expelled from his political group headed by Gov. Tupas for publicly accusing the latter of graft and corruption.

This might also happen to Estancia Sangguniang Bayan Wilson Balingit, who was lately accused by Mayor Restituto Mosqueda, his co-partymate in Lakas, for dishonoring him with the alleged revelation that the mayor has been convicted by the Sandigangbayan for “grave abuse of authority”, which he denied. Mosqueda has also included in this accusation on radio Vice Mayor Butching Aclaro Sr.

Both denied the accusation of the mayor on radio and at last Sunday’s Reklamo Publiko program of Danny Fajardo. The vice mayor even disparaged the act of the mayor, saying the mayor was accusing them out of hearsay information. “He should have first verified the media allegation.”

Balingit, himself, strongly denied the accusation, but said his denial seems to fall on deaf ears, as from hence on the mayor has already shown his indignation against him by refusing him certain privileges the mayor gave to their other co-partymates.

Well, that’s how life is in our political arena. Each act, though how good for the interest of the people, has also to pass the test of party loyalty. And those who live by their principles may have to suffer the consequences, with only the consolation that they may end up as the people’s heroes.

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