“Will Miru and Comelec perform honestly, with no shades of cheating?”
A daughter gifted me with a French bulldog recently, to replace a third-generation dachshund descended from its grandparents the family had since the eighties.
Thinking of a name to call the new pet, my daughter suggested Muttly, after the snickering dog of Dick Dastardly, my favorite TV cartoon when my kids were young. It was about car races where Dick would try every trick to win, with his mascot Muttly beside him.
They even kidded me that I was always “dastardly,” a sinister plotter, starting when I dabbled in backroom politics, plotting the fall of Marcos Senior to other political bigwigs in the span of 43 years.
Of course not, I always riposted. I just find politics exciting and truly engaging.
In three short weeks from now, our people will troop to the polls, in one of those rare mid-term occurrences where predictability has become quite tricky.
Surely they will re-elect Bong Go and Bato, Erwin Tulfo, Tito Sotto, maybe Ben Tulfo as well, or a useless retread, Bong Revilla. But the next seven slots are still anyone’s game, not only by way of changeable rankings, but by who will get into the Magic Seven.
Crowding themselves into the possible seven or eight slots are a mixed bag of Alyansa, PDP, Kakampinks, and Inday Sara’s newest choices, and not to forget two independents, Revillame and Ben Tulfo. Far too many for limited musical chairs with a three-week deadline.
Alyansa’s mixed-bag coalition has Lacson, Cayetano, Binay, Lapid and Pacman still in the running in this “sobrang sikip” contest.
PDP’s mixed bag, otherwise known as fPRRD’s choices, can count yet on Marcoleta, Ipe and Bondoc who cannot be discounted, the first because of tinseltown’s memory lane, the other two because they have surprisingly high conversion despite lower awareness levels.
If Revillame wins because voters have lost their marbles, he will be joining pals Ipe, Bong Revilla, and Lito Lapid , plus Robinhood and Jinggoy, so the Senate will be like a movie set with Tito Sotto holding the clapboard.
Now let’s look at how “representative” of the tribal Filipino nation the Senate of the 20th Congress will be: From NCR: two Cayetanos, Binay, the Tulfo brothers (2 or 3 with parentage from Mindanao), and may also represent the US of A, Sotto, Mark Villar (plus Camille if she makes it), the two Erap sons, Gatchalian, count in Risa Hontiveros and Loren Legarda as well (they may have provincial roots but lived in Metro Manila all their lives). That’s anywhere from 12 to 14 from NCR, at least half of the entire body if the surveys are right till May 12.
There will be two from Cavite: Lacson and Revilla, one Bulakeno in Joel Villanueva, Lapid of Pampanga (plus Kiko and Bam of NCR with roots in Central Luzon), Marcoleta from Tarlac, Bondoc from Quezon City, and three from Mindanao, namely Zubiri of Bukidnon, and Bong Go plus Bato from Davao. If Revillame makes it, he could likewise represent Nueva Ecija.
There will be two Bicolanos, Senate President Chiz Escudero, plus Robinhood whose father was once governor of Camarines Norte, an Islam convert whose parentage is Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.
There will only be one Ilocana, Imee Marcos, whose mother is Waray. If she makes it to the magic 12, she will be the only one representing the “solid” North and Eastern Visayas, whose languages she is conversant with.
In our nation of tribes, this will be the count: anywhere from 12 to 17 from Metro Manila, three from Mindanao, two from Cavite in Region 4, two or four from Central Luzon, and just one who can represent Regions, 1, 2, CAR, half of the provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, as well as Region 8.
No one will represent Regions 4-B, 6 and 7. When the outstanding performers Serge Osmena and Frank Drilon left the Senate, these very populous Visayan regions were left without representation.
This headcount is based on the latest mid-March poll surveys. Those who are not mentioned should blame the surveys or themselves.
Now, if Inday Sara can pull a surprise, and add Marcoleta, Ipe, Bondoc, Imee and Camille, to sure winners Bong Go and Bato, she will not be convicted in the forthcoming Senate trial of the 20th Congress. She will have more than enough to get acquitted.
Which of course will be a stinging defeat for the administration, rendering the current president a lameduck with hardly any political capital left in this land of the balimbings.
How will the electorate finally decide? Will a strong wave of sympathy for the imprisoned leader on top of the disenchantment over inflation, crime and corruption thwart the resources and machinery of the administration and its celebrity candidates?
Not to forget another outlying factor: will Miru and Comelec perform honestly, with no shades of cheating?