WHEN former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa turned over to City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong a P100,000 check for the victims of the landslide in Barangay Tina-an, he did become defensive. This is, after all, the time when people consider the difference between honest intention and political motivation on the matter of aid-giving.
“Unta di lang lainon pagsabot kay di man pud to akoang personal nga kwarta tanan. Amot-amot man to sa atong mga amigo aron makatabang lang diri sa atong mga kababayan nga naglisod tungod sa disgrasya,” dela Rosa, who has announced his intention to run for senator, said.
The line between honest intention and politicking is, indeed, fine, although in some instances it is thick and can easily be seen. Consider the initial effort by Special Assistant to the President Bong Go to introduce himself to voters. His critics used one word to describe his action: “garapalan.”
Go and dela Rosa are non-politicians with the ambition of entering the Senate. But despite Go’s all-out effort to have a fighting chance in the 2019 senatorial polls, survey after survey showed his effort failed to make a dent. Reports say that he is no longer running for senator.
For dela Rosa, his turning over of the check to Chiong and posing for the cameras must have been an awkward moment considering his roots in the PNP, a supposedly non-partisan organization. But he wants to make the jump that Sen. Panfilo Lacson, another former PNP chief, successfully made. So he had to do it.
The final say on this one, of course, is with the voters. Past political exercises show that voters generally use a broader criteria in choosing their bet than just differentiating between a wannabe’s honest intention and politicking. For all we know, they may yet give Bato a pass.
Even then, we hope that candidates would be so bothered by their conscience they would not be tempted to use people’s suffering in their politicking. If their intention is honest, they can help sans the usual fanfare politicians bring to their every move.