LATE last year Liberal Party mayoralty candidate Doctor Victor Tiglao claimed that Chinoy businessman Anthony Dee, who is running for vice mayor under the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, is supporting his political bid.
But until now, as yesterday's front page photo of this paper shows, the giant tarpaulin of Nacionalista Party mayoralty candidate Marjorie Morales-Sambo is still conspicuously displayed atop the Dee-owned Datelcom Building along McArthur Highway in Barangay Dau.
Marjorie is the daughter of re-electionist Mayor Boking Morales of Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
Tiglao was banking on the supposed assurance he got in the past from Dee that the latter would support his mayoralty bid. But action, as everybody knows, speaks a lot louder than words. Why would Dee allow Marjorie's tarpaulin be placed at the top of his building if he doesn't support her candidacy for mayorship?
Marjorie's photo, along with the tarpaulin of a politician who lost his bid for village chief in the last barangay election, dwarfs Dee's own tarpaulin, which is displayed only at the gate of the Datelcom building.
I don't know what made Dee decide to abandon his more than a decade old "No retreat, no surrender" slogan - which he changed to "Misan mu pu" (Just one term) in 2007 - by not running anymore against Mayor Boking, his political nemesis. The Chinoy businessman-politician is seeking the vice mayoralty post instead. He is up against Vice Mayor Prospero Lagman and Councilor Noel Castro.
Nacionalista Party has no vice mayoralty candidate in Mabalacat. Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino has no mayoralty candidate in the town. Do we see a NP (Marjorie)-PMP (Dee) alliance for the May 10 elections? Everything is possible in politics.
I'm sure Dee's apparent support for Marjorie will boost her candidacy.
Boking won over Dee by only some 1,000 votes in the 2007 mayoralty race. This speaks of Dee's popularity with Mabalacat voters as of the last elections. Dee tried to contest the election result but a considerable number of the ballots being questioned were burned by still at-large suspects on January 7, 2007.
Because of the still unresolved ballot-burning incident, Mabalacat folk will never know who really won the 2007 mayoralty contest. But it's a fact, as showed by Comelec and Supreme Court rulings, that Dee defeated Boking in the 1998 mayoralty race. These rulings are the very reason why Boking, who has served as town mayor for 15 years, is still eligible to run for mayor until the 2013 elections.
It's a complicated and highly technical matter. But by relinquishing his position to former Vice Mayor Crisostomo Garbo and allowing the vice mayor to continue the remaining a month-an-a-half term (2004 to 2007), Boking was able to enjoy a supposedly "first term" starting 2007.
His occupation of the Mayor's Office from July 1, 2004 to May 16, 2007 was deemed "not counted" by the high court, though all the official acts performed, legal documents signed, and funds released by Boking during the period were not declared null and void.
This time could be different.
Had Dee decided to run again for mayor in this year's elections when the poll automation will be initiated, he could have a better chance to finally make his long-time dream of becoming a mayor come true. But the Chinoy businessman-politician obviously has other plans.
We'll see in the next few months if Dee will indeed campaign for his political rival's daughter.