IMAGINING is like dreaming. And to dream is free; so many would rather dream big. Like dreaming, imagining is also free. So we are imagining big things as well.
Now this is our personal imagination, a product of our long years of experience as a local journalist which leads us to meet with all kinds of people and deal with their diverse character. Such experience has also given us the opportunity to assess the conduct of society as well as the people in it.
With this level of experience and knowledge of people’s conduct including that of our politicians, this is what we have imagined to be possibly happening in the forthcoming May 2022 elections for both local and national positions.
In Davao City for example we have imagined the possibility that Mayor Sara will file her certificate of candidacy for re-election as mayor. After all, she still has one more 3-year term left. So will her younger brother Basti also file his certificate of candidacy for re-election as Vice Mayor.
All these they will do to draw to the surface all other personalities who are harboring ambition to become tenants of Malacanang. By then Mayor Sara will have the opportunity to evaluate who among the filers is the strongest candidate, and proceed to assess her chances against the already exposed leading contender to the presidency. And between the deadline of the filing of candidacy and the last day of the filing of substitution the period is enough for the Davao City mayor to make her decision to execute an earlier arrangement she may have entered into with a candidate for President coming from an allied party who by this time is uncertain of his or her fate should he or she pursue the candidacy for President.
So we imagine that what is going to happen next is Sara filing her certificate of candidacy as a substitute to the candidate whom her party may have an arrangement with to withdraw. Remember what her father did? She may be repeating a not so distant incident in our political history.
And what would that make of the Davao City political scene? Naturally, Basti who is already a candidate for re-election for his current position will do the “moving up.” He will substitute his elder sister for the mayoral post. What about the vice mayor’s position? Of course, whoever is the “anointed” will definitely be the one.
That makes the both of them sure winners as there will be no more new filings to be allowed. Therefore, they will be running unopposed. Wow, what a feat.
By then, Mayor Sara with the learned counsel from her political advisers, more specifically her father, the outgoing President, will have already made her decision and may have already prepared the necessary documents in filing her substitution candidacy for President. It is also likely that she may have already been well-prepared on how to deal with the issues that might be raised against her. Thus, she could have a smooth-sailing campaign
This possibility of course will put whoever opposition candidate or candidates in a sudden disparaged position. Such development will then require the other candidate or candidates a major adjustment in his/her or their campaign strategy. That definitely will work to the advantage of Sara, the substitute candidate for President under the administration banner.
Who could be Sara’s vice presidential tandem, would be a contest among those who are currently vying for the administration’s anointment. Without doubt, surveys will be conducted if only to help the administration in the selection process.
Or course, as we postulated earlier in this piece, everything here is a product of our wild imagination and of the fact that imagining such a political scenario is for free. Other than this aspect, it is also on the assumption that the Davao City Mayor is really aiming for the Presidency in the May 2022 polls.
Now we will have to wait until the last day of the filing and find out who the administration party “coerces” to file and later withdraw. “Let us to see,” according to the late Davaoeno Senator Landring Almendras.
Nonetheless, we still maintain our earlier hunch that Mayor Sara may opt to defer her candidacy for President and instead aims at a lower position such as the Vice Presidency or even Senator. After all, she’s still young and the 6-year term of whoever gets elected in 2022 is not quite a long wait.
