RUN Sara Run!
This seems to be the reverberating call of pro-Sara people or groups in various places in the country. But will the lady Mayor of Davao City and Presidential daughter heed the call?
This is one question that will fully be answered after the last hours of the deadline of filing of certificate of candidacy for all national positions starting from that of the President less than a month from now, and the deadline of filing for substitution of candidates representing a particular party another month later. Now we are reminded of the scheme adopted by her father President Rodrigo Duterte.
Again, will she run or not? Our hunch is that she will not run even as she is basking on the apparent strong support she is getting from all over the land. But knowing Inday Sara she could not be in a hurry to the top. After all she is still very young and seemingly healthy. So she would know that the years between now and the next presidential elections will be more than enough to solidify her foundation to ensure a sure win. Besides, by just reading through the efforts of the critics of her father, delaying her plan for the presidency will allow her to dodge accusations of perpetuating a dynastic rule, the thing her father once banded around as his mantra to erase in Philippine politics.
Besides, if one will see through the statements of Mayor Sara in between lines, it is not difficult to decipher her intentions. She could be playing a significant role in the administration’s strategy to confuse the enemy. In fact it is likely that she knows who the President is eyeing to endorse as the presidential candidate under his banner. Without her connection established or linked to the administration endorsee it would be convenient for the presidential daughter to remain playing the devil’s advocate by chastising the next President and his or her administration without getting labelled as traitor to her party or to her father. And if the successor of her father comes from the opposition the situation would even be more favorable for her to scrutinize the next administration because by not being overly identified with his father she can immediately become the leader of the legitimate opposition.
But then again, Mayor Sara’s apparent advantage over the other potential aspirants in terms of survey results and her still unopposed adoption by several coalesced political organizations both at the regional and national level, may lead her to be enticed into grabbing the opportunity to run for the highest office of the land.
With this possibility we can only hope that she will be guided by the words of the late Nelson Mandela, the late President of South Africa who ended the era of British supremacy in that country.
According to Mandela “When you are at the top, be careful with the monster called PRIDE. Pride will make you look down on the people who haven’t attained your level of success… And if you are still well on your way to the top, be careful with the monster called greed. GREED can make you impatient or make you seek shortcuts.”
Now should the Davao City Mayor feel she is in any of the two situations, it is extremely important that when she makes her final answer to the earlier question posed here must be derived from the full understanding of the Mandela counsel.
Of course the lady mayor being a lawyer and certainly an avid follower of leaders gifted with exceptional talent for leadership could not have missed the Mandela legacy. Therefore, we assume that she is already well aware of the course of action she will take.
Unfortunately, despite her so-called protestation of the ongoing activities of her supporters, the latter appear to have ignored her and continue without let-up in their enticement to the Presidential daughter. So, given the snowballing movement, it is likely that the lady local chief executive might eventually be goaded to run.
If such eventuality happens, then she will possibly diminish her credibility and becomes a good target for opposition tirades. Putting up an impenetrable shield for her might not be easy as many think. That might be her dilemma.
