Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Ledesma: Unity what?
By Jun Ledesma
Sunbursts
TALK of Davao City politics nowadays and the intriguing question that will likely surface is: Will there be a 'take two' of that fictional Unity ticket election episode? Recall that this was a solemn pact skillfully calibrated to eliminate potential political adversaries of local candidates and to insure the victory of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Unity, as peddled, will also do away with costly election campaign.
The idea of a Unity ticket was splendid and whoever crafted it has a spark of genius. But this did materialize as conceptualized because there was betrayal even before the cocks crowed the moment the certificates of candidacy of the signatories were filed midnight on the last day of filing before the Comelec. Let me rewind a bit.
By my assessment, only Mayor Rody Duterte, Louie Bonguyan and a few of the frontrunners in the City Council could have won that polls hands down with or without the unity. Boy Nograles could sashay through the match too but we never knew who Duterte's Hugpong should have pitted against Boy if the Unity was not agreed on. Like Boy Nogie, winning a congressional race under the Unity Ticket was a walk in the park for Roy Lopez and Vincent Garcia.
But the Unity ticket, dubbed later by a coffee shop habitue as U-T-I, became tainted with dubious plot and grand conspiracy. Lopez took a different path few seconds after he filed his candidacy and from then on campaigned like mad for FPJ. Vincent was unopposed and won comfortably. Some of Nogie's friends ran without Boy's blessings, this according to someone who looks like Jess Zozobrado, to the consternation of the legitimate Unity candidates. Mayor Duterte kept his part of the pact to the end. Because some parties reneged in the agreement and were either lackadaisical for, or worst, even worked against Arroyo.
Duterte has to campaign tooth and nail for his presidential bet. Of course Nogie, being the chairman of Lakas, gave his all. In the end Arroyo pole-vaulted from a lackluster performance in the surveys. Some council bets of the Unity Ticket were however casualties of the dubious conspiracy.
Fast-forward to the current political events, Mayor Duterte when asked about his thoughts of the UTI2, glumly said, he will refer the matter to Hugpong. The statement only invites speculation. My personal view is that the Mayor will follow party line. The thing is, the party (Hugpong) members will not act on their own. They keep their ears close to the ground and will follow only the path that the Mayor will choose. Given the betrayal that hounded UTI-1, I do not think the Mayor will be as compassionate as the Lord, and will neither allow himself to be flogged or nailed to the cross.
If so, will Mayor Duterte field a complete lineup of Hugpong? I think he will but in courtesy to Boy Nogie who after all had worked hard for Arroyo's bid and is presently the Majority Floor Leader, the Mayor might not field any congressional candidate in the 1st District. But then that's the Mayor's call. Like his loyal Hugpong members I can only guess what's in the Mayor's mind the moment he articulates it.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (September 26, 2006 issue)
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