THE size of the crowd usually becomes the hot topic on the day after a major proclamation rally in Cebu City. Organizers and supporters, as well as observers in the rival camp, tend to make the number of people attending the event as gauge of strength of public support.
Surely an unreliable form of measuring sentiment of voters because crowds are usually bused in, the “hakot” being a common practice on both sides. Yet it also tells of how organized the party is. If it can summon a mammoth crowd at a rally, it’s a force to reckon with on election day.
Not the crowd
The post-rally talk on last Saturday’s assembly of Cebu City’s ruling party BOPK was not about the police estimate of 15,000 to 18,000 people. It was mostly about BOPK endorsing Bong Go as candidate for senator, including the presidential “go-for” as one of five aspirants for the Senate in Mayor Tomas Osmena’s own Magic Five. The others being returnee Serge Osmeña and reelectionists Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar and Sonny Angara.
Bong Go was the odd man in the clutch of choices, Bong being President Duterte’s pet and Tomas being one of the President’s pet peeves. In more than one occasion, some weeks ago, Duterte publicly shamed the city mayor, calling him arrogant and threatening to slap him the next time they’d met. Well, that next time must have been the sealing of a deal.
Pre-rally rumor
Just before the March 30 rally, there was already this buzz in the Cebu circuit: namely, Duterte made Bong Go’s inclusion in the BOPK sample ballot as condition for not enforcing a purported suspension order against the mayor.
The mayor himself spoke in endorsing Go, allowing even a three-minute video about the candidate to play. Which seemed to have fitted snugly into the grooves of the rumor. Go was not present, sending entertainer Ai-ai de las Alas instead, but that magnified the endorsement instead of diminished it.
Something for something
Inevitably, the conversation after the event dwelt on the “quid pro quo”: Bong Go’s chances to win increased by the votes Tomas could deliver in a bloc; Duterte would leave the mayor alone, even giving him the situation he devoutly wished for: to get away from the Presidential gun’s cross-hairs.
Tomas apparently pulled it off: Being redacted, or reduced in font size, on Duterte’s “black list” and opening another channel, no matter how largely speculative at this time, to Malacañang.
It could spoil the grand plan of Barug-PDP-Laban, Tomas’s suspension being its center piece. Oddly though, both Presidential Assistant Michael Dino and the mayor, who have been clawing at each other’s face, would be both supporting Bong Go.
Miguel after Margot
And yes, the other surprise: Miguel Osmeña, the mayor’s son, the “unico ijo,” reportedly speaking at the rally just after his dad spoke. Used to a behind-the-scenes role, the content manager of Tomas’s Facebook page, Miguel could have set a precedent in last Saturday’s rally. That was probably the first time he spoke before a huge political crowd. Am I right or am I right?
With the temporary exit of Councilor Margot Osmeña after June 30, Miguel could be another Osmeña politician in the making. Judging from some of his posts, including a reported snipe at the opposition women’s vagina, he could be tougher than the father.