WILL actor Richard Yap, a Cebu businessman, run for congressman in Cebu City’s north district against the veteran Raul del Mar? That’s another interesting question that will be answered only when the Commission on Elections (Comelec) starts receiving the certificates of candidacy next month. A showbiz personality gunning for a government position always attracts attention.
Yap is more popularly known as the “Sir Chief” to Jodi Sta. Maria’s character in the popular ABS-CBN teleseries “Please Be Careful With My Heart.” He is not a mere actor, however, because he runs a business in Cebu, obviously in the district that del Mar has been representing in the House of Representatives for years already. That should account for some substance.
Yap seems to be favored by the current electoral setup that gives premium to popularity as much as to funding and political organization. Or how would the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Jinggoy Estrada and many others win senatorial posts? Or why would political parties endeavor to include not only showbiz types but also other personalities, like athletes, in their slates?
Del Mar, however, has already shown that intellectual capacity, political acumen and organizational presence can more than make up for popularity. After all, he defeated the popular, or should we say controversial, talent manager Annabelle Rama in the 2013 congressional race.
In this sense, Yap needs to show that he has more substance than what Rama could offer to the voters and could build a political machinery on the fly with help from his political group of choice, Barug PDP-Laban. Still, he would be an underdog against a grizzled veteran and survivor of many electoral jousts.
He could also bank on his youth considering that del Mar is now in a zone that the late Cebuano lawmaker Talyux Bacalso would often joke about: “mapandol na sa luwa.” Of course, there is a positive spin to age: the older, the wiser.
In the end, del Mar will have to admit that a Yap candidacy would provide a formidable challenge to his decades-old rule as Cebu City north district lawmaker.