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THERE is a reason in the complaint of several aspirants in the coming 2010 elections against the ban on campaigning before the start of the campaign period.

When they file their COCs on or before Nov. 30, they are for all intents and purposes declared candidates for the office they seek. Voters will flock to them like ants to sugar and pester them for all sorts of favors. And yet, they cannot do anything that may be construed as premature campaigning.

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From the start of December to 45 days before the election on March 26, their hands are practically tied while their opponents, the incumbents, can go around their merry ways with the added advantage of using public funds in the process.

Hence, there is much fairness in the proposal for the incumbents to be considered automatically resigned upon filing of their COC's. This makes the playing field fair, as they too would be subject to the same restrictions imposed on non-officials seeking elective office.

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The entry of ex-president Estrada in the presidential race will drastically change the political equation. Undoubtedly the idol of the mass, Estrada will corner the votes of the dispossessed and the disinherited, which comprises a huge portion of the electorate. This vote would have gone to Villar, who prides in having rose from obscure poverty, and to Aquino, who benefits from the lingering mass affection for Ninoy and Cory. Now, Estrada will get the lion's share and thus draw away votes from Villar and Aquino.

The youth vote, another huge portion of the electorate, would have gone to Aquino. Estrada and Villar do not have any constituency among the young. However, Escudero's entry would further weaken Aquino's base in the youth sector. Escudero is younger and definitely more qualified.

At any rate, with at least four presidential candidates running, Estrada's huge constituency among the mass will be the major determinant in the 2010 elections.

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Many of us may abhor the idea of another Estrada presidency. Womanizer, inveterate gambler, confirmed drunkard, only a few notches beneath the status of a hoodlum, Estrada is everything we do not want in a public official. But given the habitual thievery of most public officials, local as well as national, Estrada indeed appears to be the better alternative. At least he is honest about his vices. The others hide behind their goody goody image and Mona Liza smile.

As they say, better the thief I know than the one I don't.

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Bacolod mayor Bing Leonardia sounds orgasmic upon receiving the land title to the donated City Hall site. Personally, I never entertained the doubt that the Gonzagas own the property. Perhaps, the only question about it was that not having the title when Leonardia started spending for the City Hall construction, it follows that it was still private property up to last October 19, when he received the title. Ergo, he may have run afoul of the law, which prohibits spending public funds on private property.

But the meat of the matter does not lie on the delayed delivery of the title. It is on the site itself, which for purposes of urban planning, is clearly inferior to the land being offered by the heirs of the late Congressman Romeo Guanzon. The Guanzon land in Mansilingan is strategically situated for the emergence of a new growth center. It is in a commercially undeveloped area conducive to new investments. And it is few kilometers from Murcia, another thriving municipality.

The Gonzaga property, on the other hand, is already developed with Lopues South to its western side and plush subdivisions to its northern and eastern sides.

The new City Hall is literally boxed in. While the Guanzon intended donation is a magnet for growth, the Gonzaga property constricts it.

This is why I suspect motives other than the public interest is the Leonardia administrations compulsion to prefer the Gonzaga property over that of Guanzon's.