In the Philippines any call for reconciliation and unity every after election can never be responded to accordingly.
And it is overtly manifested in the just concluded midterm polls. Imagine even before the smoke of the electoral battle dissipated vicious bombardments of harsh words and sarcasm immediately took over the social media platforms!
Imagine instead of the winners humbling themselves in victory the trolls apparently working for them immediately came out with posts laced with bile and full of innuendos and degrading presentation of the losers’ person.
One example is the post showing leading members of the Quad Com investigating the Vice President’s use of her offices’ confidential funds. The quadruple committee members like Congressmen Dan Fernandez, Bienvenido Abante, Joel Chua and Stella Quimbo were made to appear as “graduates” from the House of Representatives. The four lost in their bids for reelection or their candidacy for another office.
Then there was this ironic call by a defeated senatorial candidate who demanded a deferment of the proclamation of the winning bets because he feels he was cheated in the computerized counting of votes. This senatorial bet wants the recounting done manually. He insinuated that the electronic counting could have been manipulated to ensure his defeat.
And yes, trolls from the farms of both the administration and the opposition did not waste even a single day in presenting negative issues against the acknowledged leaders of the opposing political groups in incumbent President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on one hand, and in former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte on the other. The viciousness of the social media-coursed attacks makes it appear that the Presidential election of 2028 is already underway.
So how can our country’s political leaders attain unity? How can the Philippines achieve the desired level of socio-economic development when opposing politicians never give a chance to appropriate government policies to stabilize? Instead, questions as to constitutionality and other disruptive moves to its institutionalization are raised with gusto by persons representing vested interest groups.
And for as long as this kind of politics and politicians continue to dominate our country’s system of governance, we might as well stop hoping for a united Philippines. We might just have to continue dreaming for the best to happen.
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Now it can be told. That is, that the Davao City government will possibly be run by a Duterte-Duterte tandem in the next three years or even more. Yes, winning Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte will be acting as mayor while his father former President Rodrigo R. Duterte will remain detained in The Hague, Netherlands on charges of having committed crimes against humanity. The likely to assume as Vice Mayor is nephew Rigo Duterte II, son of Baste’s congressman brother Paolo Duterte.
Of course, it depends on whether or not Rigo meets the requirements laid down by the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) on this kind of succession.
We are certain that this political set-up is not just happening in Davao City. It is also prevalent in several other places of the country. And so far the only politician who rejects relatives running in the same place he is holding the position of Mayor is Vico Sotto of Pasig City in Metro Manila. For how long, we have no idea so far. But truly his position against political dynasty is worth the emulation of aspiring politicians.
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By next week we are hoping that winning candidates in the three districts of Davao City will be re-visiting the different barangays under their jurisdiction. No, not for them to renew their promises made during the campaign period but to thank their constituents for their support.
However, if they do not come back and thank the voters, we will assume that the said winning candidates won not because the voters think of them as most deserving. Rather, the possibility is that they might have bought their votes with whatever form – financial which is the usual, or in kind like “ayuda” of three to five kilos of rice accompanied with three cans of sardines, two or three packs of ready-to-eat noodles, two or three cans of locally produced corned beef, etc., etc.
Of course we are certain that should the winning candidates for councilors, congressmen, and most of all the vice mayor who would soon be mayor, pay even a short visit in the barangays, especially those in the rural areas, such gesture would mean a lot to the people.
But as far as we could remember it was only Councilor Nonoy Al-ag, the unlucky candidate for Congressman in the third district, who made his rounds in the villages of the district a week after he won in the Davao City Council election of 2022, who made such visit to thank the constituents.
