BUSINESSWOMAN Daphne Salimbangon’s father is Rep. Benhur Salimbangon who, before he represented the fourth district in the House of Representatives, also served the same district in the Provincial Board (PB).
Salimbangon didn’t go beyond his political turf in the many years that he waged political battles because of the uncertainty of mounting a campaign beyond it.
That essentially is the reason Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia found it hard to convince established political leaders to battle what turned out to be her opponent Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale’s strong running mate, Gov. Hilario Davide III.
Not only was her camp caught off-guard by the development, it also had to contend with the tendency of political leaders in municipalities and component cities and even in congressional districts to remain in, and protect, their turfs.
Besides, the switch in the Davide camp was done during the filing of the certificates of candidacy, when the lineups at the local levels—apparently already well thought of—had been set.
No way could established political leaders make a sudden decision without upsetting the political cart in their turfs. That would already be too big a sacrifice for them.
The first choice for Garcia’s running mate was supposed to be former City of Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong and when he refused, his daughter, Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong, was offered the slot.
The older Chiong already had his sights on a return as mayor with Kristine as his running mate. If either of them left to run for vice governor, their lineup in the city would be weakened considerably.
Then there is the Magpale factor. The setup in the province is such that only the governor and the vice governor could be voted on by a province-wide constituency. While the PB members can already represent the Province, they are still basically district political leaders being elected to the PB by voters in their districts.
The same goes for House of Representatives members representing the various congressional districts of Cebu province. Despite their lofty designations, they still are basically congressional district leaders and do not have much personality when it comes to province-wide politics.
What we are saying is that it has always been difficult to develop potential gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial bets from among the PB members and even the congressional district representatives because of their being tied politically to their turfs, which are limited in a province-wide sense. There can therefore be no training in a real sense for gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial leaders.
The problem has been compounded by the fact that Magpale has been vice governor for a number of terms, even when governors have changed. Thus, while Garcia and Davide can now be considered legitimate provincial political leaders after becoming governors, only Magpale has been developed as a provincial leader by holding on to the post of vice governor.
The truth is, had Davide decided to not run at all and Magpale decided to go ahead with the idea of running for governor, she herself would have found it difficult to look for a running mate.