NOW WE have observed that almost every personality earlier believed to be harboring the ambition to run for President this coming May 2022 elections is slowly coming out with some kind of infomercial reminding the Filipinos he or she is this or that person and that he/she has done these or those, or desirous to do things that will lift the standard of living of the Filipinos if elected.
Wow, we could only imagine the kind of life each of us could have lived and led if only those who had earlier made those promises and those who are committing them now, were really able to fulfill what they promised or are now promising the people! There would have been no doubt at all that the people in the Philippines would have moved up to the top ten level of most happy people on earth.
Nonetheless, experience will tell us that all these promises are easier said than done. There may perhaps be some leaders who had been earlier elected to the position of power and were bent on making good their covenant when they were still candidates. But as it is and has been in the kind of Philippine politics, other people’s hunger for power will always push them to derail any such well-intentioned efforts. And from within the team created by the highest leader to help him or her run the government in accordance with his or her promised well-being, there will always be some team members who are willing to compromise the noble objective of the highest leader just to be able to attain his or her personal greedy interest. And they are the most vulnerable sector in government to the wiles of the corruptors; those who want to shortcut every process in government so they could get the action they desire from the bureaucracy. They are the termites willing and raring to gnaw on the fiber of governance.
As we said earlier in this column the personalities wanting the country’s top leadership are slowly making their desire known, and with gusto, through expensive “infomercials” aired on television. Of the more known personalities we already have seen and heard of Isko Moreno’s brag about what is happening to Manila under his term and cleverly laying the premises that what he did and is doing for Manila he could do it for the entire country. We have former Vice President and losing Presidential candidate in the 2016 elections Jejomar Binay using the so-called launching of his book as clever cover of his real intention. And we can already see several billboards all over the country portraying this and that tandem for the 2022 polls.
Of course there are also other known candidate hopefuls who have not yet launched their own pitch for the position they are planning to run for. Like in the case of Presidential daughter Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio of Davao City, VP Leni Robredo, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and former Presidential candidate Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro. Their desire is so far not yet announced through billboard or television infomercials or some kind of “documentary.” But definitely, they are banking on the weight of every statement they make for this to be carried by the various media in the country. Meaning, anything they say if it has something about politics, how they see the administration and what they could have done better if they were the ones in power is enough to make their names and their potential plans to the two top positions in the country betrayed quite obviously. And most of the earlier mentioned personalities are likely to run against the administration –backed candidates for President or Vice President.
It seems however, that the administration has been very successful so far in isolating the name of the person they intend to field as candidate for the highest position in the land. The person, most likely a guy, is of course also slowly exposing himself without making his intention obvious. The said person seems to be enjoying the accolade of the country’s leading businessmen and the conglomerates they are running. But whether it is part of the over-all strategy of the administration to keep his identity unknown up to the final hours of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC) we still do not have any idea. But the person’s discrete introduction has been made by such influential business magnate as Ramon Ang of the San Miguel fame, and even other conglomerate heads whose businesses may or may not be threatened with possible competition by the family of the person we are writing about. Even in some of his initial coming out on television on what appears to be sponsored slots, the person chooses instead radio and television personalities who are not known in the journalism field although admittedly, they are well-known silver screen and television personalities.
And as to Presidential daughter Sara, we still maintain our belief that she is not really enamored by the supposed high ratings she got in several Presidentiable surveys. No, not yet, She could possibly be eyeing for lower positions like that of the Vice President, or even that of a senator. After all, these two elective posts make her only a breath away from the Presidency without getting suspected of helping her father perpetuate in power.
So far, we still believe that the administration has been able to way lay the opposition and all other potential groups desiring to take over Malacanang. So much that they are kept in the dark as to who they will finally face against when the time of reckoning comes.
For now the possible anti-administration groups could be hurling their projectile on the wrong targets.
