“I am a teacher. It's how I define myself. A good teacher isn't someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed. That's the way I see myself, so whatever it is that I will do eventually after politics, it'll have to do a lot with teaching.”
--Justin Trudeau
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- ALTHOUGH she has publicly raised the hand of Iloilo City mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III, presidential daughter Sara Duterte apparently is also “rooting” for Espinosa’s rival, Iloilo City lone district Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” Trenas, in the May local elections.
As a rumored presidential timber in 2022, the mayor of Davao City can’t afford to play a loaded dice in Iloilo City politics.
“Wooing” certain political characters or “showing moral support” to their candidacy is a political gambit that has been played up even by some of the famous politicians in antiquity.
Antagonizing one party and embracing another is tantamount to a political suicide for any candidate running for a national office in the future.
Thus Mayor Duterte only probably wanted to please not only both Espinosa and Trenas, but also their political supporters and sponsors, when she recently lent them her aroma.
Her gestures should not be interpreted with finality every time she is seen hobnobbing with local candidates anywhere in the Philippines.
Whoever wins between Espinosa and Trenas will definitely be an asset in her presidential campaign three years from now.
Hugpong ng Pagbabago, Mayor Duterte’s infant but fast-expanding political party, will surely invite or recruit more local chief executives -- governors and mayors -- after the May elections.
The party will go for the winners, not the losers.
Victory, after all, has many fathers; defeat is an orphan.
-o0o-
Those who don’t believe that Mayor Duterte will not run for the Philippines’ highest office should start to wake up.
Mayor Duterte did not organize the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, which made many PDP-Laban stalwarts insecure and nervous, for nothing.
Her body language, as well as the body language of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, speaks louder these past months; her regular activities and nationwide trips were loaded with interpretations that tilt on a strong possibility she will be running for president.
She probably believes she and her father can do in the Philippines what they did in Davao City: becoming the first father and daughter to reign as city mayor; this time, they might shoot to become the second father and daughter in Philippine history to occupy Malacanang’s highest seat after Presidents Diosdado Macapagal and Gloria Arroyo, who is now the House speaker.
Although President Duterte has not admitted it-- and will most likely not admit it, no father will stand in the way if he thinks there is a big chance her daughter will succeed him as president.
-o0o-
Many drug lords with links in the Filipino-Chinese community who were active in the previous elections in the Philippines either as financiers or candidates themselves are expected to either shy away or maintain a low profile role in the coming elections
They can’t afford to make a noise or display their fangs even if they claim to have solid ties with some powerful officials in government, police, and the military.
They are aware of President Duterte’s standing order for the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to “make life difficult” for these drug lords once they are spotted or arrested.
The threats of violence or even death hangs over their heads like a Sword of Damocles; and if they make one fatal false move, they will be decimated; and their cases will be buried in the statistics of those “killed for resisting police arrest.”
Haven’t we noticed that most of them have surreptitiously “disappeared” and nowhere to be found or heard these past years since President Duterte assumed power?
If they weren’t yet buried six feet below the ground or allowed to escape to China, they are just probably “on standby” for the bigger battle in 2022: the presidential derby.
Only fools can’t read between the lines.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
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