Miriam in 1992; Drilon in 2016?

“The people who cast the votes don’t decide the election, the people who count the votes do.” JOSEPH STALIN

By Alex P. Vidal

ILONGGOS will always go for their own daughter or son in any presidential race.

They have shown their unity and determination to elect their very own in 1992 when they nearly sent Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago to Malacanang had it not been for the sudden blackout during the canvassing of votes.

Defensor-Santiago in 1992.

Drilon in 2016?

Was the recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) which showed Senate President Franklin Drilon enjoying a 65 percent satisfaction rating deliberately released in the media in order to prop up his chances to be nominated as presidential standard bearer of the Liberal Party in 2016?

The survey started to make rounds in the media at the time when Mar Roxas was rumored to be on the way out as DILG secretary and was being pummeled in the presidential surveys.

Roxas is still being preferred by Malacanang as the LP presidential standard bearer despite his disappointing showing in poll surveys.

THIRD

The son of Capiz was already dislodged from third spot by Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte of the PDP-Laban.

Several days before the SWS survey came out showing Vice President Jejomar Binay on top, Drilon spin doctors have been drumbeating his “winnability” factor if ever he decides to throw his hat into the presidential race. 

“I know that there is no better and apt way to show to the Filipino people that I value and deserve their trust, than by working even harder, and fulfilling my duties to the Senate with great zeal,” Drilon announced after learning that his satisfaction rating actually rose by four percent since the last survey was conducted in December 2014.

Drilon, however, has not made any categorical statement that he was interested to run for president.  

Pulse Asia survey also showed he enjoyed a 49 percent approval rating, two percent higher than last year’s survey.

NOMINATION

Political parties sometimes base their nomination of certain candidates for higher offices in the surveys of reputed firms like Pulse Asia and SWS.

Between Roxas and Drilon, Ilonggos in Iloilo and Negros prefer the senate president.

Roxas, whose family has been in power for several decades now, hasn’t done to Roxas City or Capiz province what Drilon has done in a short period in Iloilo City.

Some two billion pesos worth of infrastructure projects have been poured in Iloilo City using Drilon’s pork barrel funds and other agencies. 
All these were implemented under the administration of a relative, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

Iloilo City has experienced a renaissance in tourism and infrastructure since Drilon and Mabilog worked together like father and son.

While Roxas can’t unite the fragmented political leaders in Roxas City and Capiz, Drilon was able to cement a reputation among local leaders as political demigod.

GRUMBLE

Some people in Capiz grumble that Roxas hasn’t brought economic boom in the province and Roxas City only recently made it in the headlines when the first CityMall was built there and business and investment writers started to write about the city’s potentials only after young billionaire Edgar “Injap” Sia disclosed plans to invest more in his hometown.

If the LP will bump off Roxas for Drilon, supporters of Drilon will always have the surveys to parade as their justification.

No hard feelings for Roxas.

The graft charges filed against Drilon in relation to his alleged misuse of pork barrel will have to take a back seat once the Palace starts to discuss seriously about Drilon’s next political moves.

But it appears that no less than President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III himself is hell-bent to endorse Roxas as LP standard bearer.

Will the surveys help change the president’s mind?

After all, only fools don’t change their minds, as the saying goes.