[] Raymond Alvin Garcia and Nestor Archival/Tomas Osmeña -- who're leading their respective party slates in May local elections and competing against Barug-Bag-Ong Sugbo's Mike Rama -- seem to be not keen about defending BBM or Digong on raging controversy.
[] Kusug-Panaghiusa reportedly "won't align" with either BBM or Duterte camp for May elections. In 2022, at a political rally for Leni Robredo, BOPK Tomas Osmeña rejected both, 'No more Marcos, no more Duterte.'
[] Reelectionist Kusug-Panaghiusa Councilor James Anthony Cuenco sees 'minimal impact' of BBM-Duterte issue on outcome if elections were held today. 'Minimal,' also says returnee BOPK councilor Alvin Dizon but can influence result in a tight race.
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR: [1] Last Thursday, March 13 [2025], Michael "Mike" Rama, former Cebu City mayor and leader of Barug-Bag-Ong Sugbo, expressed his support for former President Rodrigo Duterte and condemned FPRRD's arrest and turnover last March 11, 2025 to "a foreign entity," the ICC or International Criminal Court.
At the same time, Rama declared himself, as Barug-Team Rama president, the "opposition leader for Visayas Regions 6, 7 and 8," asking PDP-Laban members in the three regions to join him. Earlier, before FPRRD's arrest, Rama accompanied Vice President Sara Duterte during her visit on February 26 to Barangay Ermita, Cebu City to thank Cebuanos who attended the February 22 "People's Indignation Rally" in Mandaue City.
One may assume Rama's feelings for President Marcos Jr. -- "I want the world to know I love my president," expressed on April 26, 2024 -- were superseded by Mike's more recent avowal of support for Duterte. Rama is no longer the city mayor but he's still a high-ranking PDP-Laban official.
[2] There has been no published comment of Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia on the Digong arrest-transfer. At least a search for news stories on the issue has not yielded information on Garcia's view. But Councilor James Cuenco said "our party, the Kusug-Panaghiusa coalition, has chosen not to align itself with either camp."
[3] BOPK has also not specified its stand and neither Nestor Archival Sr. nor Tomas Osmeña commented on the controversy, to indicate personal or party sentiment. News archives don't yield any public statement on the issue from them.
But during a Leni Robredo-Kiko Pimentel rally in 2022 at Southwestern University in Cebu City, Tomas Osmeña cried out in his speech: "Never again. For a better Cebu and a better Philippines. There's no other way. No more Marcos! No more Duterte!" If that sentiment or political stripe has not changed, Osmeña wouldn't be defending Duterte or BBM in the current fight.
DUTERTE'S ARREST-TRANSFER. Reelectionist Councilor Cuenco of Mayor Garcia's Kusog-Panaghiusa told me Wednesday, March 19, that "taking sides" with either BBM or Duterte on the former President's arrest in the Philippines detention in The Hague, Netherlands "would indeed create an impact on the local races if the elections were held today." But Councilor Cuenco believed "emotions (will) subside" before the elections, which he said are still two months away. "The impact will be minimal."
"In the final weeks towards election day," Cuenco said, "local issues and party machinery will still be a major determinant" as to who will win. Sympathy for Duterte "does not necessarily translate into votes for his candidates in Cebu City, as is the case if one sides with the Marcoses."
To would-be returnee, former city councilor Dizon of BOPK, the impact is also "minimal." Local elections, Dizon told me Thursday, March 20, "are largely influenced by local issues and candidates' platform and ability to deliver services..."
And here's Dizon's "but": "... but we can't dismiss the broader political climate and its potential ripple effects." Voter sentiment, he said, "can still be shaped by national events and narratives." On the same groove that Councilor Cuenco's thoughts run, Dizon said that "even if the impact is minimal, every factor counts in a close race."
Or it will. More accurately, it might, especially if the "emotions," driven and fueled by anti-BBM and pro-Duterte propaganda, faked or distorted in social media posts, would go on, even in the lull of proceeding at The Hague. Confirmation hearings are scheduled to start only in September but issues on jurisdiction and manner of arrest may be taken up and thus keep the controversy boiling.
WOULD PEOPLE'S PASSION GO DOWN? Emotions will subside, as Councilor Cuenco predicted. The question is when will that be?
One can speculate but cannot be precise. The sooner before the elections, the better for those who don't want the Duterte issue to overwhelm local issues in the balloting. Election date is May 12, less than two months away, yes, or 53 days from today, March 20.
During the past several days since FPRRD's arrest and transfer, public indignation has risen over the alleged acts of maltreatment against the former president and the country, including his alleged illegal arrest; kidnapping and transfer to the Netherlands, where's he has been detained; infringement of Philippine sovereignty; denial of due process; and oppression of "an 80-year old man suffering from many ailments." All alleged and all verifiable.
How do most of us gauge public sentiment? (1) Surveys or polls. (2) Internet chatter, social media posts. The first has to be truly independent to be credible. The second is vulnerable to distortion by partisans that print, post, tweet or otherwise publicize false or fake news or opinions.
Which social media propaganda has been exposed more frequently and effectively? The thing is: Political cyber-machinery can be used to prolong the life of the issue, especially when new incidents erupt that provide new ideas for propaganda to whip up public sentiment.
'DUTERTE FACTOR.' How much influence do the Dutertes, father and daughter, have on Cebu City voters? Before the arrest and transfer of FPRRD, lawyer-columnist Frank Malilong, said in a SunStar column last February that Duterte "can sway more votes than he can lose them." Duterte's endorsement "cannot guarantee victory, only that "it can bring in additional votes that, in a close contest, could spell the difference..."
In Cebu City and Mandaue City, wrote Atty. Malilong, Duterte's support "could prove to be the deciding factor." "Don't tell me I didn't tell you... if Duterte's anointed will have their hands raised in triumph" after the canvassing, forecast Malilong, a keen watcher of Cebu City politics.
Note the qualifier used by Councilors James and Alvin and Atty. Frank: The race has to be "close" or "tight" for Duterte's help to matter.
Related: "Malilong: The Duterte factor," SunStar, Feb. 27, 2025
'CAREFUL, CAREFUL' IS THE SAFE WORD for local aspirants/combatants in the May elections. After the eruption that was the Digong arrest and transfer, they can't be sure anymore about being aligned with the president or the former president.
Could "tatak BBM" or "DDS link" help Cebu City politicians' victory or defeat?