Dark horses

SO I believe the guessing game will be over as this day ends. But it’s not like I was guessing. I wasn’t surprised at all. Election season in the country and the city has become one big telenovela, as predictable as the ones I watch during my lull and not so lull moments here in the office.

The same old faces filed their certificates of candidacy. Oh, why am I so disappointed?

Of course Timpuyog ti Baguio is the team to beat. And they should be mighty proud of it.

The Batman and Robin tandem of Mayor Mauricio Domogan and Rep. Bernardo Vergara, coupled with incumbent councilors Lulu Tabanda, Fred Bagbagaen, Philian Weygan-Allan, Elmer Datuin and the man who’s supposed to have considerable influence over barangays, ABC president Joel Alangsab, sure make for a winning formula.

Add former councilors Edilberto Tenefrancia, Elaine Sembrano, Federico Mandapat and former chief of police Roberto “Bungo” Ortega and this coalition seems to be infallible.

But this worries me. Granting all the above mentioned names win, this will greatly disturb the delicate equilibrium so crucial in governance since this only leaves 3 slots open for the opposition or at least I hope they are with the opposition.

Not everyone could be a “friend” of the executive because there needs to be a check and balance essential in government.

And an executive wants a lot of friends. Who doesn’t? Friends always got your back. And to some extent they take crap from and for you. And this not only applies here but practically everywhere in the country.

I’m sure to take a lot of flak from this and most will probably say, “No, we have a mind of our own. We have excellent track records. We cannot be dictated upon.”

Maybe. But my years in the job have told me otherwise. One look at the chairmanship of committees in the City Council explains everything. Friends get the premium cuts, those not so friendly get the scraps.

I like change. I went from long hair to short hair. Very short hair.

And while to some progress means more dug up roads and overpasses and underpasses and flyovers and everything else involving cement, I don’t share that BISYON.

So don’t take it against me if I pray for a dark horse. Correction, I am praying for dark horses.

Because right now, this ain’t my fairy tale. This is a nightmare.