WHO is this guy who filed recently his certificate of candidacy for Congressman in the first district of Davao City? Assuming that he is not a “hired” candidate and his only agenda is to give the people in the district a legitimate alternative to the incumbent, then we would say that he has the guts to do so. Yes, given the name, the resources, the organization and perhaps the incumbent’s capability to band around election brawns, the decision of this guy to challenge the sitting congressman, Paolo Duterte, must be a manifestation of how this challenger trusts his own capability.
The challenger whose name sounds like that of our Muslim brothers, looks like he has the personality of a confident man and that he seems unafraid to ram into some kind of a granite wall in the sitting lawmaker of the first congressional district of Davao City. We do not know him really and that if what he has for now is enough for him to launch a political confrontation with Congressman Polong.
Assuming that he is bent on going into a toe-to-toe campaigning with the incumbent we wonder if he has the organization that will carry his rope up to the final days of the campaign. And by organization we mean that it is a group of people who will not only be dependent on how much their candidate will shell out for the campaign but they are ready to stick with him through thick and thin and would even fork their own resources so that the campaign will keep on going.
We also believe that for him to run an effective campaign he must create a supportive communications unit whose people have access to all media outlets so this candidate can communicate to the voters all that he wants to do for them. Sans this communications group his campaign efforts will go to naught since all that he wanted known by the first district voters will be steamrollered by the avalanche of materials the propaganda machine of his nemesis can churn all throughout the campaign season.
Then, definitely, that would be good-bye to his intention to serve the first district constituents of the city.
Of course, as we said earlier, it all depends on his real motivation in running against the incumbent congressman. Barring the possibility of stumbling upon his undesirable motive, if any, in running, we feel this Polong Duterte challenger is worthy of support. We are looking forward to see or hear more from him soon.
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It is already definite. As of the other day only Congressman Isidro “Sid” Ungab of the third district of Davao City remained without an opponent. And we doubt if he would ever have considering that he still gets the endorsement of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. The only possibility of an Ungab opponent is if like in 2019, Polong will suddenly come up with his own endorsee whose name may have been announced yesterday, or today, the deadline of the filing of COCs. But who will Congressman Polong endorse? Will it be councilor Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, a top vote getter like Ungab in the third district Council race? Unlikely.
In other words Ungab will remain in his seat without thinking of campaigning. Unless if he will actively go out and campaign for his re-electionist councilor brother Engr. Alberto Ungab.
This situation in the third district will surely make the local elections in the whole of Davao City even more boring. Yes, it is less exciting than when the mayor’s seat is hotly contested along with the district councilors. But with every aspirant only elbowing each other for either Mayor Sara or President Duterte’s endorsement the forthcoming local polls will only be a little upbeat to that of barangay elections.
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If there is any sector in the Philippine population that is vulnerable to amnesia it is that of the politicians. They can recite all promises before the elections but forget it as soon as they are sworn to the office they are elected.
For example, in so many elections that had passed after the EDSA revolution most candidates for President promised to do away with political dynasty. The latest is of course the incumbent. But what happened to that commitment? Over and over again it is flushed down the drainage of forgotten memories.
This leads us to remember the late US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he started campaigning for his second term. He asked his campaign staff to schedule a huge rally in one of the states of the Union. Roosevelt’s chief of staff reminded him that there was need for them to skip the said state because during the President’s previous run for his first term he made a promise to build a bridge that will lessen time travel from that particular state to other neighboring states and back, and the commitment was forgotten. Roosevelt merely shrugged off his shoulder and said, “Let us just deny we ever made the promise and then reprise the same during our rally.” Argument ended.
So, doing away with political dynasty; changing our mode of governance from the present system to a Federal one? These promises will be made again and lost in the politician’s memories after the election? We can be sure of that.
