The government gridlock that results from political indiscretion is shuddering with leaders of democratic institutions damning one another.

On top of all that are the burgeoning groups led mostly by demagogues and rabblerousers occupying city streets and raging to overrule the country’s incumbents.

***

Last Friday’s shambles that saw a mix of opposition and religious partisans battling their way towards Mendiola amid bursts of hose water let loose by the police demonstrated the shakiness of the ongoing situation.

Leading the demonstration were prominent personages such as former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, former Pangasinan Governor Oscar Orbos, Rep. Saturnino Ocampo, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, and Fr. Robert Reyes who became victims of water cannons that were directed mostly at them.

Watching them, what I saw was an emptiness represented by the absence of something which may be damning to their stature.

It just occurred to me, what are these people doing there?

***

President Arroyo, as everybody knows, made Guingona Vice President of the Philippines, and despite the fact that he campaigned against her in the last elections, she still appointed him Ambassador to China: There was something missing in there, too.

But looking at the next day’s front pages after the rally, despite the hosing and what the opposition called "policy of brute force," they seemed happy as they linked arms to challenge the police authorities.

At least in the photos they looked passionate about their causes and principles.

***

But what are they rallying for, really?

Rally organizers led by Catholic bishops, said they were searching for the truth, a claim disputed by those who insisted that they were there to call for the resignation of President Arroyo.

That’s the truth, they say.

Whatever, they should also respect those who support the President – the vast majority of the citizenry who are getting sick and tired of the pessimism they peddle and intensify with their endless display of discontent and deprecations of everything, except themselves.

***

To be sure, there are many who do not like Gloria Arroyo – millions – but even they and the million others are not convinced any of those rally leaders, including their patrons, could be a better substitute.

Not that there are no Filipinos better than the incumbent – certainly not – but sadly they are not in the league of the opposition.

That’s the reason the political opposition hasn’t endorsed single-mindedly any alternative leadership to the Malacañang occupant.

***

And that’s the fatal shortcomings of the opposition; up to now nobody among its more brilliant leaders has risen to claim presidential stature.

Some of its most capable members who were expected to rise above the rest have outlived the height of their possibilities while others have declined in age and with it, the passion for heroic leadership.

Without anybody to offer enough to excite the people’s cravings for fresh, persuasive, and compelling leadership, the opposition now seems to finds itself lost in the streets.

Who really speaks for the political opposition, in the first place?