Emil Jurado
“Then again, everything is speculation at this point.”
There are now four groups showing interest in the May 9 elections for President and Vice President. There is of course the choices of outgoing President Duterte, led by presidential daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
While the President has not mentioned Sara as his choice to succeed him, everybody knows that his daughter is his first choice. Sara herself has not declared herself running for President, but there’s a mounting clamor for her to run – a very good political strategy with 11 more months to go for the polls. Duterte himself used the same strategy in 2016. Like father, like daughter.
Who will be her running mate? There are reports that it will either be Bongbong Marcos, Martin Romualdez (who has been mentioned as the President’s preference), and former Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro. But all these are speculation.
The 1Sambayan, which declared itself as the United opposition, wants Vice President Leni Robredo to run under its banner, but Robredo has not made up her mind on whether to run for local office or for the presidency.
Then, there are Senator Ping Lacson and Senate President Tito Sotto who intend to run for president and vice president, respectively. No doubt, both Senators have name recall and popularity, but up to this point, people are still guessing what will happen. What party do they belong to? This despite the fact that Sotto is talking about the Nationalist People’s Coalition, which was organized by the late San Miguel Chairman-CEO, Danding Cojuangco.
Another group which has been making noises lately is the Reform Party of former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Who will be its candidates? People recall that Sara who had him ousted.
There are also talks about a “third force,” but nobody knows just yet what that group will present to the people.
All things considered we can expect no less than five political groups on election day.
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The choice of the President for vice president, House Majority Floor Leader Martin Romualdez, raises a lot of interesting points. A Sara-Martin combination presents a formidable team – the South, Eastern Visayas and even the North in Ilocandia and parts of Luzon because Martin is the first coursin of Bongbong.
It is a formidable combination with Sara’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago and the Lakas-CMD political party. There were in fact rumors that Lakas-CMD was staging a coup in the House to replace Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. But people are now asking: What will happen to Bongbong, who has been mentioned as available for the vice presidency? There are reports that Sara prefers Bongbong to be her VP. As I said, anything can happen.
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The death of former President Noynoy Aquino III has its impact on the Liberal Party, now headed by Senator Kiko Pangilinan and chaired by the Vice President. The political impact on the onset of the 2022 May 9 polls. Noynoy’s death could either solidify or cause the disintegration of the party.
No doubt, the death of Noynoy cuts both ways. It could mean that the Yellows could unite, or see itself disintegrate.
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There are high hopes that the government will achieve its goal of vaccinating at least 70 percent of the 110 million population. Herd immunity will be a good holiday gift to Filipinos.
I must congratulate the health experts and the President himself for such optimism. But only 2.1 million adult Filipinos have gotten their second dose. We’re still far off from the goal!
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Whether we like it or not, Filipinos living in the United States are pondering two things — freedom and human rights — as far as the May 9 polls are concerned. But they may be unaware of the real issues here at home.
With this kind of mentality, most Filipinos will vote against whoever President Duterte will support to succeed him. Filipinos in the US have become the opposition of the Duterte administration.
This is why the administration should conduct a massive education and information campaign among dual citizens who are living in the US. Calling Ambassador Babe Romualdez!
Republished from Manila Standard 29-06-2021