ASIDE from misplaced chauvinism, the issues of peace and order and scholarship and pork barrel will be the main fodder in the exchanges of diatribes among contenders in Davao City political campaign.
Of course some side dish like Duterte being branded as the "Kissing King" and Nograles as the "(Other) King" will all be resurrected and the life of these unkind attributes will last until the Comelec has declared the winning king of the masses.
I am almost certain that the issue of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) will, as I suspected it all along, keep hanging in the air never to be resolved while the campaigning has not ceased. Then there is the Ghost Duckery Project. The ducks that laid the golden eggs for some favored chicks will refuse to silently roost. Even though the graft-ridden Southern Philippines Development Authority was razed to the ground by a mysterious fire that burned the stinking records of that agency, still the stink from the ashes of moth-balled SPDA will never go away as some damning documents had been saved for future reference, so I heard. That future has arrived.
So what about the Peace and Order Fund? Only those with serious case of amnesia and of course strangers in Davao City have the bases to ask that question. The city council, long before Inday Sarah graduated from college, had already set aside a substantial amount of money for peace and order.
This started when Davao City became the target of terrorists and bombed the airport and the seaport killing scores of innocent civilians and maiming hundreds of passengers and others who were waiting for arriving passengers. These were followed by attempts to blow up the city bus terminal where hundreds of commuters converge.
Davao City was not only target of terrorists. Digos, General Santos City, Kidapawan, Marbel and Tacurong, to name a few, had their share of the diabolic act of terrorists.
Davao City being the center of communication and commerce was of course the main target. The perpetrators find celebration when they hit civilian targets and their heinous deed is seen on global TV and news dispatches. Investors shunned Davao City. Wealthy residents, some of them politicians, relocated to the capital region for safety. City Hall reacted and so did the Sangguniang Panglungsod.
To their credit, if I remember it right, the opposition members of the city council were among those who co-authored the measures that set aside substantial amount of money for peace and order. Task Force Davao was set in place precisely to help the local police force guard the vast area of the city. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte set up "tripping points" in many critical entry points among them coastal areas and barangays in the borders of the city, Davao del Sur, and North Cotabato.
These security mechanisms are not for free. It will be the height of stupidity to be asking how or where was the peace and order spent. If the adversaries of Digong want to know how the fund was expended, I think they should ask the mayor for a one-on-one meeting: like an executive session. The mayor may then divulge to them how the money is spent. This has to be done to protect the identities of those involved in delicate tasks and keep the matrix of security apparatus from the prying eye of the crime syndicates and terrorist elements.
As to the ordinary citizens like me, we can only measure and quantify the rational of the fund placements and effectiveness of the security apparatus by the condition of peace and order that we enjoy. Now, if you think that your existence in the city is threatened, then go join Congressman Boy Nograles in his plaint.
I was once privy to the talk between him and then Regional Development Chairman Jesus V. Ayala at the crucial time when peace in the city was being threatened. What I distinctly remember was a short statement from JVA to the mayor: "Just take care of the peace and order and business and development will flourish." The mayor did just that.
What about scholarships? I have a very brief brief on that claim of benevolence and acts of charity of some quarters. The scholarship funds are derived from taxes paid by the people. Almost all of that money came from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's fund. This money is channeled to her subalterns, among them congressmen, and to some local government officials she thinks are not inimical to her. I suspect that Duterte is even among them although he is not inclined to claim credit for the scholarships granted from the president's fund.
But the tragedy of this presidential initiative as articulated by Estong Caballes of DXRR, "Gi-angkon man sa mga kongressmen ang maong hinabang. Sila gwapo sa publiko, pero si Presidente Arroyo labihang da-uta. Witik-witik! (Congressmen staked full claim of these such that they now appear very good in the eyes of the public while President Arroyo is destroyed)."