“No one and nothing can stop the momentum of Marcos.”
Last Tuesday, social media went crazy after news of Davao City Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte replacing his sister, Inday Sara, as the mayoralty candidate for the city circulated.
Speculation quickly flew that Sara was to file her certificate of candidacy for president in the 2022 polls, replacing whoever it is, running in tandem with Partido Federal ng Pilipinas standard-bearer, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.
For the Pinklaws, this was to be their worst nightmare. Still having to recuperate from the impact of the Manila Times survey showing BBM on the verge of becoming the country’s first majority president with an overwhelming 68 percent of the respondents preferring him over the rest of the field, they now have to contend themselves with the most formidable tandem even most of their supporters acknowledge.
Just minutes after Sara confirmed withdrawing from the Davao City mayoralty race, rumors spread that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo brokered the deal between Sara and BBM, with BBM sliding down to vice president, under the threat of being disqualified should he refuse to accept the agreement (There is a pending petition for disqualification for BBM before the Commission on Elections filed by the Pinklaws).
For the Pinklaws, this is what they want the people to believe. They have been outrageously anti-GMA, so using her distort the issue is just like picking apples for them. By making it appear BBM was threatened by no less than GMA to slide down and give way to Sara, they are obviously hoping it would anger the throngs of Marcos supporters, and just throw their votes on someone else other than Sara.
For the DDS, on the other hand, this is what they want to believe for themselves. Sara running for president would be a continuity of the Duterte administration, which they had been working for since last year. Recently, they organized a Green Saturday Movement to convince Sara to run for president, and even organized a caravan from Mindanao which is scheduled to arrive in Manila on Sunday, November 14, a day before the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy for substitute candidates.
A radio anchor, citing his bubwit sources, “confirmed” the GMA angle in convincing Sara to go for the top post and that it will be finalized in a meeting at the former president’s villa in Balesin this coming November 11 – 14.
A lawmaker from south of Luzon, who is more famous for his being inconsistent than anything else, “validated” this in his television interview yesterday saying Sara had been eyeing the presidency since May this year and there is no other option but to go for it.
Sorry to rain on their parade, but I have other sources.
According to my source, it was the father and son tandem of a former senator and a recently resigned Cabinet member who convinced Sara to let BBM go for the presidency, insisting it is his time to shine now, and this has been manifested with his growing support.
The source added the father and son who prevailed upon Sara to seek the vice presidency as defaulting this time would take a toll on her future political plans. Her political stars might fade away by 2028, she would have to start all over again before she could gain the momentum in seeking the presidency.
By agreeing to run as BBM’s VP, Sara would then be assured of a ticket for the presidency six years from now.
Far-fetched? Let us examine Senator Christopher “Bong” Go’s statement last Tuesday when he insinuated, he was to withdraw from the vice-presidential race.
“Itong kandidatura ko bilang bise presidente ay maaaring magbago. Gustuhin ko man magsilbi sa inyo bilang bise presidente, pero sa kagustuhan ng ating mahal na Pangulo, kailangan ko pong umiwas,” were Go’s exact words in an event in Antipolo City on Tuesday.
We don’t need rocket science to dissect Go’s pronouncement. We just have to go back a bit in time before he filed his CoC last October 2.
Go was salivating for the presidency, but he knew without a Duterte to back him up, he stands no chance. That’s why the first option was for President Rodrigo Duterte to be his running mate. However, they were also contemplating then that Sara might throw her hat in the presidential race, thus the possibility of a Duterte-Duterte running for president and vice president looms. That’s the reason why he had to settle for the vice presidency and reserve the presidential slot for Sara by way of substitution for Senator Bato dela Rosa.
Meaning, if he was eyeing the presidency then, Go wasn’t scared to face it off with BBM. Thus, if Sara will be gunning for the presidency, why would he back out? Makes no sense. He would be withdrawing because as he said, that is what Digong wants, mainly due to the fact the father doesn’t want him squaring off with his daughter.
And assuming there is someone brokering for BBM to slide down and give way to Sara, why would he accede? The support he is getting now is soaring beyond the roof, it’s raging beyond imagination. And you don’t stand in the way of a raging bull. Ang bumangga, giba.
A friend, who is supporting another candidate, even posted pictures of videos and photos of BBM’s motorcade last Sunday saying the scene of participants in red pouring out in the streets in different parts of the country and even in some parts of the world, moved her to tears.
“Si BBM lang ang sakalam,” she said with a twist of sadness in her social media post.
Meanwhile, any update or photos from the caravan aimed at convincing Sara to run which was supposed to hit the road last November 4, had yet to land in the news or the social media.
So, what’s my forecast? Would it be a BBM-Sara tandem or a Sara-BBM?
I would pick BBM-Sara. The indicators are there and right now, no one and nothing can stop BBM’s momentum. I don’t think the Sara-BBM version stands a chance. Not by a mile.