To many voters of Angeles City whom I talked to, they are saying that mayoral candidate Carmelo ‘Jonjon’ Lazatin will breeze through in the coming May elections. I was once a candidate in a one-on-one mayoral contest in the city, and it is normal that all bets are ‘running scared’, so to speak. A candidate should feel this way inorder not to be complacent. In the case of Jonjon, he is more concentrated on how he can chalk a win for his slate,13-0.
Let’s get an inside view of certain local candidates. Let’s start with Angeles City. Mayor Carmelo ‘Pogi’ Lazatin Jr. a sure winner. No opposition.He is running by his lonesome. My predictions. Vice Mayor Vicky Cabigting will breeze through in the May polls. All the council bets in their slate are winnable. But it’s not over till it’s over. Let’s leave the suspense there.
I am not basing my projection on the conducted local surveys. I am sorry to say but sometimes they are ‘table surveys’ and not done scientifically. In a big city like Angeles where there are more than 200 thousand registered voters, there is likely a big race among those who wanted to land in the first ten spots in the council race. And inorder to be in the cut, efforts to draw public attention is really necessary. Palakihan ng tarpaulins. And starting March 28 their mobile propaganda vans will be blurting loud music in your neighborhood. Hayaan ninyo lang. That’s how we conduct our elections in our country.
I remember the 2013 elections. There were 24 candidates in the council race. One combination that clicked in that elections was the PAMI group. It was composed by Edu Pamintuan, Jericho Genaskey Aguas, Maricel Morales and Alex Indiongco. The acronym was taken from the first letter of their family names. It proved to be effective. The four won. Again there are groupings in the Lazatin slate.
At this point of the race with more than 40 days more before voting in May 9, those who have indicated a strong showing are Jaycee Parker Aguas, Pogs Suller, Edu Pamintuan and Alex Indiongco. Niknok Banola, Raco Del Rosario, Alfred Sangil, Ron Pineda, Chris Cortez, Mich Bonifacio and are doing double time and wanted to squeeze in to be assured to be in the magic 10. According to dopesters,mostly they will make it. Politics involves marketing. There is an on-going battle. The battle of tarpaulins. But there are also other channels. The other council bets in the city are sending their messages via tarpaulins which are posted on strategic locations. And this has to be supported by house to house campaigns, caucuses or meetings and maximizing technology via mostly on Facebook twitter, instagram and viber. Television and commentary programs on prime time radio are still very useful in reaching the grassroot.