SPECIAL Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go filed his certificate of candidacy for senator with President Rodrigo Duterte by his side. That was message enough to the Duterte diehard supporters (DDS). Will that push him up in the Pulse Asia and Social Weather Station (SWS) surveys for senator? Perhaps it will, or perhaps it won’t.
But the first question that needs to be answered is whether the DDS can translate their fanatical support for the President into votes for his candidates at the national level. That Go ranked low in surveys could mean the answer is “no.” This is also probably the reason why the DDS leader, Margaux “Mocha” Uson, chose to run for the House of Representatives (party-list) instead.
Actually, among the pro-Duterte non-politicians who are dreaming of making it to the Senate, it is Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa that I might vote for, if push comes to shove. I mean, if I were made to choose between him, Uson and Go. That man is transparent and down-to-earth like his nickname. There is no arrogance in him and he is not blanketed by a sinister aura.
By the way, a Cebuano has filed his COC for senator. I am referring to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s brother, Sergio Osmeña III, who wants to bounce back from his defeat in the senatorial race in 2016. He is, of course, a “veteran” (meaning old) at 74 years old. Which only means Cebu has still to produce second liners for the Senate (or Cebuano politicians who can hack it at the national level).
The problem with Serge O is that he drifted away from the limelight after his defeat and even in Cebu, which is supposed to be his bailiwick, he was rarely seen. He has to, for example, introduce himself to Cebuano millennials. There were attempts by the mayor to get support for him via social media but it didn’t fly.
By the way, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque proved he can be fickle when he announced he is gunning for the Senate after all. Days before that, he announced that he would run as party-list representative for Luntiang Pilipinas. Roque had a falling-out with the President after the latter discouraged him from running for the Senate because he (Roque) has no chance of winning.
Roque is not running under the administration PDP-Laban but under the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s People’s Reform Party--which only showed that his rift with the camp of the President has remained. The Roque candidacy for senator thus looks to me like neither here nor there.
Interestingly, Sen. Joseph Victor (JV) Ejercito filed his COC for senator not only as an Ejercito but also as an “Estrada.” Meaning, as “Ejercito Estrada JV.” What makes that intriguing is that his half-brother Jinggoy Estrada filed his COC for senator accompanied by the “real” Estrada, Joseph, their father. Will the two Estradas end up being in the Senate together despite the rift?
Meanwhile, it is former senator Pia Cayetano’s turn to run for the Senate again. On the way to filing her COC, she rode her signature bicycle. It is also the turn of her brother, former Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, to run for the House as Taguig representative.
Maayo na lang nga wa sila mangopyas mga Estrada.