MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza In the beginning, there were only the Liberal Party, Nacionalista Party, Kilusan ng Bagong Lipunan. Today, the explosion of political ambitions has led to the implosion of political parties, as a consequence of which the electorate is puzzled, but only a bit more so than those parties and their so-called members. Take a look. Promdi. Partido Federal (Bongbong Marcos). Partido Federalismo (Manny Pacquiao). Partido Reporma (Ping Lacson). People’s Reform Party (Bong Go). Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (Butch Belgica). Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Antonio Parlade). By no means is this list complete. Include some of the older ones, Lakas-CMD, PDP-Laban (two wings), Nationalist People’s Coalition. And there’s more, the more’s the merrier, as the founders and members of party-list groups will tell you. Where’s the party headed? Not to be a party pooper, but the way things are happening, should voters care? Since when have they voted according to party lines and leaders who (do not) espouse principles, platforms, and programs? If the chairman of the opposition Liberal Party could so easily choose to run as an independent and switch from yellow to pink in a flash, the LP president at the very least stuck to his party affiliation when he filed his certificate of candidacy (while wearing a pink bow that looked like the Breast Cancer Awareness Month symbol and ABS-CBN’s red-blue-green knot). Those pictures of the two candidates on COC day dredged up memories of the recently departed President Benigno S. Aquino III, who showed up for work every day for six years in a barong tagalog on which he had pinned a yellow-gold ribbon, harking back to the days when his mother won the presidency on the wings of a song called Tie a Yellow Ribbon. Sentimentality aside, the explosion of political groups has definitely colored the election season with more tints than a rainbow. Leni Robredo in pink. Sara Duterte-Carpio and her fans in green. Bongbong Marcos usually in red. Isko Moreno in blue. Ping Lacson in multicolorful plaids. What about Senator Pacquiao? His teammate, Lito Atienza, is not shedding his flowery Hawaiian shirts, and why should he? If I were Senator Lacson’s stylist, I’d want him to go for a younger, more dynamic look – in an outstanding color.