DAVAO City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio declared Cebu province as a “free zone” in next year’s election. This means that she and her regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, is not endorsing any gubernatorial candidate here. The two bets are Gwen Garcia and Agnes Magpale.

But yesterday’s reports on the matter by the three local newspapers were confusing. Cebu Daily News and The Freeman said Cebu is a free zone. But in SunStar the headline of the page 2 story said that “Duterte-Carpio ‘endorses’ Garcia for guv.”

However, Inday Sara clarified in the SunStar story that she has no bet for Cebu governor. She said she supports the candidates of the administration party PDP-Laban, Garcia’s party. She said that the Duterte family is grateful to the Garcias for their support of Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections.

But I am confused by Inday Sara’s stand. As what I have gathered from reliable sources, she was one of those who pushed for the Magpale-Davide tandem, with Gov. Junjun Davide III sliding down to run for vice governor.

If Inday Sara supports Magpale, a distant relative of the Dutertes, why is she also fielding her aunt, Eleonor, for mayor in Danao City against Mayor Ramon Durano III, also a relative and political ally of Magpale? In fact, Red Duterte and a certain Michael Villamor are also running for Provincial Board seats against Magpale’s son Miguel and Thaddeus Durano Sybico.

Whatever. Inday Sara is, after all, not that influential that she can make her favored candidate win. Not even the President or the ruling party. While it would be an advantage for a candidate to have powerful and influential people endorse him/her, politics in Cebu or any local government unit is still a very local affair.

Voters will vote for a certain local candidate because they know him/her personally. They are beneficiaries of the candidate’s programs and see and meet him/her regularly. Close family ties and blood relations are also a big factor.

How many local candidates in Cebu had been endorsed by past presidents but lost? In 2010, Davide was the candidate for governor of the Liberal Party (LP), the group of then president Noynoy Aquino, who was very popular at that time. But he lost to Gwen. He only won against Gwen’s brother Pablo John and Winston in the succeeding elections. Gwen’s popularity was not transferable to her brothers.

In the 2013 elections, the “former political has-been” was the LP candidate for mayor and was endorsed by Aquino. He lost to Mike Rama. Presidential endorsement is not a guarantee of victory. Kamas ug kayod lang sa pagpangampaniya, publicity ug kuwarta--mao nay formula sa siguradong kadaugan.

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I stand corrected. Third district Rep. Gwen Garcia clarified an item in my column last Saturday titled, “Junjun Davide’s gambit.” She said the Court of Appeals (CA) is yet to decide on the case filed regarding the Ombudsman’s order dismissing her perpetually from holding public office.

I said in that column that Gwen failed to get a reversal from the CA on her dismissal. What was junked by the CA was her application for a temporary restraining order (TRO).

The main case is still pending before the appellate court. So there is still a big possibility she can get a reversal and be cleared of the charges.