Friday, October 19, 2007 Wenceslao: Yody Sanchez, wrong Belarmino, etc. By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
WHEN the topic is about the barangay polls, you expectedly miss out on many things and get some reactions. One point I missed is about the interesting twist in this elections, which is the fielding by militant groups of candidates, mostly for the post of barangay councilors. One of the more notable bets is Bayan Muna’s Arman Perez.
Perez, if his press release was actually followed, filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) yesterday in Barangay Mabolo, accompanied by officials and members of the Holy Name Neighborhood Organization, Holy Name Youth Organization and some residents. The manner Perez filed his COC is in keeping with the nature of his group.
As expected, the police and the military frowned upon this development and expressed worries about the consequences of militants winning in the elections. I think that is too much fuss about nothing. Militants have as much right to run in an election as the corrupt politicians. And their number won’t make a dent in bourgeois politics.
Meanwhile, my friend and Busay Barangay Captain Eliodoro “Yody” Sanchez texted me a reaction to my column yesterday. Yody is running for reelection against a 75-year-old bet. As they say, age doesn’t matter but Yody is confident of winning, saying, “daghan man sad ang atong nahimo mao nga ang Busay karon mora na’g lungsod.
Their work can be considered either an advantage or a pitfall of re-electionist bets. With incumbents, barangay residents can weigh their true value as a leader. This is more so in this election because those gunning for reelection were the recipients of previous election postponements. What they did or did not do through the years can easily be seen.
Lowell “Wingwing” Belarmino also called me up to clarify that the Belarmino running for barangay captain in Sambag 2 is his younger brother Carl or Caloy, not him. In the last barangay election, Wingwing actually gave way to Caloy, who wanted to try public service before going to the US. “Morag gilamian na man nuon,” Wingwing noted.
Caloy will be in the political fight of his life considering that he is up against veteran Jessie Aznar. But as I said earlier, since Aznar is with the opposition in the city, Caloy will surely be backed by the machinery that helped Mayor Tomas Osmeña win in the barangay. He will also have outgoing barangay chief Noel Wenceslao by his side.
Incidentally, the other “barangay captain-able” in Sitio Kawayan’s very own Nang Lydia Lorete and Bernie Lanutan have given way to Belarmino obviously because, being with the administration, they will only split the votes and weaken Caloy’s chances. Noy Jessie should take that as a sign that all effort will be poured to make him lose.
Anyway, often overlooked in the coming political exercise is the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) election. I think many politician-parents who have children whose ages are within the SK bracket have already successfully prodded them to run. In a setup hounded by political dynasties, politicians use the SK to polish the acts of their kids.
I just hope that the SK members, like the older voters in the barangays, will consider more the qualification of the candidates and not their political lineage or political loyalty. Our elections are so corrupted candidates’ qualifications occupy the lowest rungs in the choice of officials. SK members should be less corruptible.
