AFTER the reported virtual control of most of 19 municipalities and 13 cities in Negros Occidental province, Albee Benitez, the perceived provincial kingmaker and gambling mogul’s transfer of his voting registration Thursday in Bacolod had impressed upon the critically thinking Bacolodnon that he wants to complete his domination of the province by getting Bacolod to his knees as well.
I got feedback claiming that their usually quiet and fun-filled daily grind was suddenly struck by the placards and cries for the man from Victorias, and the images of big men from the province marching with him from the Cathedral to Comelec office.
As people used to the melting pot and hedonistic culture and dynamics of an urbanized city though surrounded by a massive greenfield of sugar-based monocrop economy ruled by sugar lords, traders and millers, agro-industrial merchants, they fear, or at worse, hate, being pressured to adopt the fiefdom and warlord culture of the sugar and mill people.
I believe money and machinery will still play a critical part in the elections, but culture factor cannot be underestimated, especially if the intellectuals, cultural artists, and the millennials, take a more prominent role in the electoral exercise, and of which the Bing administration has established a fairly good rapport and influence.
On the more important aspect, why did he and his partisans have to make so much fuss and muss for such a routinary activity? Why rally some big wigs of two provincial political coalitions, Love Negros and Unega, to march with him to Bacolod?
Simple and clear. He and his partisans had to make a considerable political noise to give weight to their pressure to Bacolod Mayor Bing Leonardia and his team, to rally other unsettled mayors to support his crusade and to send the message to the ruling administration that the kingmaker and gambling mogul is a force to reckon with anywhere in the province including Bacolod City.
But of course, while his partisans are quite vulgar, aggressive and egoistic in their desire to have their kingmaker take the last political frontier, Albee remains careful of every statement or overture he makes, a classic for someone who is a master of numbers game.
While Albee allies and partisans are seemingly desperate to consolidate their hold of Negros, as one of the vote-rich provinces in the country, to achieve a greater representation of power to whoever they would support in the national leadership, Albee keeps his cool for I believe he knows his bearing and direction.
Albee knows fully well that if [he] decides to run for mayor, it will be a winner take all or loser all game. If he runs and wins, he will be legendary in the arts and science of politics and business. And so, or even more, for Mayor Bing. If he runs and loses, he will lose a lot more of himself, not just what he has and intends to do. He will lose as well his invincibility.
In making his final decision, he will have to take local and national factors, the headwind of the ruling administration, have an excellent understanding of the Bacolod political terrain which is far farther different from the class structure, culture and dynamics of the third district or other cities in the province, and no less, the obvious formidable machinery of Mayor Bing, his long and solid governance experience and dynamic development agenda.
For Mayor Bing, to defeat Albee or whoever of similar figure fights him next, would make him catapulted to the Hall of Fame of legendary Mayors of Bacolod, and in the League of Cities. It will also be his ticket to a higher public service post, with or without PRRD.
Still, loose ends abound in this scenario build up.
Who knows, we might all be surprised if, at the end of the hullabaloo drama, Albee would end up tossing the arm of Mayor Bing for the same post, and Mayor Bing, tossing Albee’s arm for his reported senatorial bid.
Whatever, and whoever, the people’s interest for better quality of life should be the real winner. No less.