Monday, May 21, 2007 Holding fort By Edwin G. Espejo
WITH almost all the results of the May 14 elections already accounted for in the Soccsksargen area, the surprises were not who won or regained their elective posts.
What awed many were the ease and wide margins with which incumbents and re-electionists are trouncing their rivals in the recently concluded polls in this southern Mindanao region.
Many of the rivalries were old ones or between their proxies. Many would like to believe that this year's midterm and local elections were indictments of the Arroyo administration.
The mixed results in the local elections however indicated that when it comes to local governance, it does not matter whether you are closely identified with Malacañang or not.
It was how credible you are or how well oiled your political machinery is or the combination of both.
Painful lesson
For Manny Pacquiao, his foray into local politics proved to be a disastrous albeit costly attempt to crash into the political limelight.
Defying good and well-placed advices from friends to forego his plans to go up against Representative Darlene Antonino-Custodio, the Filipino boxing sensation launched the most serious challenge yet against political machinery that has not tasted defeat since 1995.
The Pacquiao-Antonino tussle is perhaps the costliest of all local elections in this part of the region.
The popular boxing icon, whose rise from poverty to international fame and newfound richness is well chronicled, is closely allied with the Arroyo administration.
Pacquiao may not admit it publicly but many believed it was Malacañang who pushed the envelope, so to speak, for him to try to unseat Darlene, eldest of the two daughters of Adelberto Antonino with former Representative Lualhati Antonino.
Darlene, who at 33, has become one of the icons of the opposition in the House of Representative despite being a godchild to the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
It was the perceived failure of Darlene to deliver projects in the first congressional district of South Cotabato due to her being with the opposition that Pacquiao pounced on.
While he was popular and could have provided a whiff of fresh air to the stranglehold of the Antoninos as far as representing General Santos City and three towns of South Cotabato in Congress, the boxing idol's political immaturity became undoubtedly his waterloo.
Unable to distinguish between genuine allies and freeloaders and opportunists, Pacquiao fell prey to political vultures that were just out to milk his hard-earned money dry.
This is not to concede that the Antoninos are unbeatable. Adelbert Antonino first ran for a seat in the defunct Batasang Pambansa in 1984 but badly lost.
He crashed into the elite world of politics by winning in the 1987 congressional elections.
His wife Lualhati also lost her first foray into local politics by landing a distant third in the mayoral race in 1988, which was won by Rosalita Nuñez.
In 1992, the couple switched places and both won. Adelbert began his reign as mayor of this city while Lualhati became one of the pillars of opposition in Congress.
An overconfident Adelbert however lost his re-election bid against Nuñez in 1995, the last time an Antonino lost in an election.
Darlene stood by her principles and position on many issues against the Arroyo administration.
Perhaps, it is this consistency that propelled Darlene to her last and yet another term in Congress.
Her local party, the Achievement with Integrity Movement (AIM), also clobbered all senatorial candidates of the administration party. Only Gregorio Honasan and Francis Pangilinan, both independent candidates survived the Genuine Opposition onslaught.
In so doing, she proved once more that South Cotabato and General Santos City are bailiwicks of the opposition by also carrying most of the opposition senators to victory, including Antonino's mayoralty line-ups in the towns of Tupi, Tampakan and Polomolok in South Cotabato and General Santos City.
Manny spent a lot of fortune in realizing his popularity was not enough to propel him to victory.
His only consolation is that the Antoninos, too, reportedly spent an eye-popping figure that would easily match the budget of a senatorial candidate.
Now, that is windfall for residents in the area. New political giant in Sarangani, close identification with Malacañang was never a problem for Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez.
His victory over a relatively unknown opponent in Francis Martinez was expected but the margin of votes between them, at over 102,000 votes, was unprecedented in the province's 15-year history.
His line-up scored a sweep in the provincial canvassing and with all but one of the town's seven mayors already proclaimed belonging to the local party that he bannered, Dominguez, at 30 years old, has emerged as one of the region's emerging political figures.
His sink-or-swim push for the people to vote for his running mate Steve Solon paid dividends and he is well into his way of ensuring a smooth cooperation between the executive and legislative bodies of the provincial government.
Dominguez earlier rued the apparent betrayal of her erstwhile ally Vice Governor Bridget Chiongbian-Huang who was foiled in her last-ditch attempt to run against the governor.
Huang lost terribly to Solon, her first cousin. Dominguez also showed character by carrying Elsie Perrett to a close victory over incumbent Maitum mayor Felix Reganit, suspected of being one of the masterminds in the slaying of former town mayor George Yabes Jr. He threatened not to set his foot in Maitum if Reganit was elected as town mayor.
Reganit is facing murder raps in connection with the slaying of Yabes. Even a relatively unknown group, which Dominguez vigorously supported, topped the party list election in the province.
Dominguez's charisma however did not prevent voters from giving Malacañang senatorial bets a trouncing in the province.
The official canvass showed only four Team Unity bets winning in the province. They are Edgardo Angara, Miguel Zubiri, Cesar Montano and Prospero Pichay.
Dominguez's clout in the local politics however was so pervasive that not one party could fill a full slate to run against his ticket.
All running for top elective posts in the province ran as independent candidates yet could not even form a tactical alliance against him.
In the first district of Sarangani, only three independents dared run against his ticket of four provincial board members. And equal number of independent candidates ran for six seats in the second district. All of them lost by wide margins.
