These meditations frequently take me to the cities where there is a local Sun.Star such as Davao, Cagayan de Oro and General Santos in Mindanao, Bacolod and Iloilo in the Visayas, and Pampanga and Baguio in Luzon. The peripatetic nature of my current work in Sun.Star has made me a transient even in my own city, which is Cebu by the way. This explains my “on leave” status in the staff box of Sun.Star Cebu, which also gives a reason for this space. It’s like saying, hey, I’m just here but not really.
The election season has made my visits to the affiliates these summer months more interesting and tiring than usual. The domestic airports are clogged and dotted by senatorial candidates; flights are fully booked or overbooked; large boxes of campaign materials slow down the baggage conveyors; almost everyone looks morose and clammy.
Traffic in the city drags because of motorcades of local candidates. In Davao, I prefer to be caught in traffic in an aircon taxi than to be mired in traffic in a non-aircon. Getting jammed in traffic in a non-aircon taxi in midday is like taking a sauna bath in the middle of the road.
The volume and dispersal of campaign posters tell a lot of the state of the election in a place. In Cagayan de Oro, the fight is between the Misamis Oriental governorship and the congressional districts. In Davao City, the election of mayor will be perfunctory but the congressional voting will bear watching. In Bacolod City, all candidates for mayor, governor and congressmen firmly believe in a May 14 victory. There is no token or nuisance candidate because Bacolodnons take their election seriously.
Cebu elections are a ho-hum compared to these areas. Cebuanos know it’s another term for him and another term for her. But Davao City voters tell me that their election is so much more ho-hum.
No one wants to fight Rodrigo Duterte, the man whose name is synonymous with vigilantes and citywide ban on smoking and the architect of the street peace Davao City enjoys. This will be his last term but he is grooming his 28-year-old lawyer-daughter, his running mate this election and who wears a no-nonsense demeanor, to succeed him. The father-daughter tandem is an indubitable win, just everyone in Davao City says. You should see the two together. You wouldn’t want to cross them or cross their path. What you do is cross yourself and keep to the lawful side of the road.
In Cebu City, we have our own Duterte in the person of Tomas Osmena. He plays politics when necessary, gets tough when necessary, and intimidates when necessary. Sometimes just unnecessarily really. The vigilante killings in Cebu were Davao-styled. Ask anyone who reads up on Cebu and Davao and he tells you that the two mayors are not so different from each other.
But Mary Ann de los Santos has been audacious enough to cross Osmena’s path. The incumbent mayor has obliquely shown how he views his challenger, a multi-awarded 39-year-old, and single, female barangay captain. Except for the exchanges about the South Road Properties (SRP), Osmena and de los Santos have little to entertain the voters with.
Maybe we should shift our attention to the vice mayoralty candidates, Mike Rama and Raymond Garcia, whose good looks make fodder for idle chats. (mps@sunstar.com.ph)
