Of awful political stratagems

It is getting difficult to understand why political campaign is being waged presently here in Cebu City, in the very way I observe it to being done now. I am referring more to the "why" side of the equation than on the "how". Quite frankly, I am unprepared to accept the rationale of the stratagems resorted to by would-be candidates considering specially that it is still months away from the elections. Of course, whatever I say here is anchored on the truth of the many reports dwelling on such exercises as are apparently designed to boost the chances of the candidates.

In the south congressional district, the strategies are centered on the abundance of logistics and the temerity to use (often times, misuse) power. The former is a mark of Mr. Jonathan Guardo and the latter is the identity of His Honor, Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña. These are the two perceived protagonists in the May 10, 2010 elections vying for the congressional seat. There may be other aspirants, but for now, they are yet to surface.

Mr. Guardo has set the tone. True, he lost his 2007 battle. But even in his defeat, he somehow won. He got an unbelievably huge total of votes for him. The numbers he registered surpassed the projections of the most conservative observers. I could remember his new adherents and followers claiming that they waged an efficiently fueled machine and more. They did not thirst on the trail and their toil, in all probability, was amply rewarded. 

If elections were won on the basis of who has the limitless outlay, the results indicated that Guardo spent less than the kind of money he probably threw away. He could have fared better had his delivery system not been flawed. So what went wrong?

The 2007 team Guardo was an organization that grew from a scratch and in a rush. The people who threw their support to him did not have any prior link to him either by political patronage or by lineage. Oh yes, there were those who were truly convinced that he breathed brand new politics. After all he was arrayed against a politician who became a congressman in 1965 yet. But, there too, were others who joined his camp for the fund of it although the candidate had no time to scrutinize them.

In the coming 2010 polls, Guardo cannot afford to appear modest. And so, he has not. Like a real flamboyant salesman, he floods his campaign with unthinkable perks. Longon diri in inexhaustible quantity, picnic didto under the most impressive mantle. He sponsors competing basketball teams as often as he underwrites all other fiesta activities and so forth and so on. Where the population of the less privileged is higher than the wealthy families, the effective campaign strategy to getting mass support is to support the mass.

Here comes the mayor. He has city hall funds at his disposal. But, it is obviously difficult for him to match the speed with which Guardo releases money. The incident where a victim of a landslide was placed in a coffin provided by the Guardo camp emphasized this point. The coffin-bearer of city hall was late.

To stop the groundswell of Guardo supporters, the mayor uses power. For instance, he declares undertaking all sorts of programs, from sports to livelihood, competitive of Guardo's efforts, insists that people take his offer and instills fear among non-subscribers. Where his projects are late, his men stop any semblance of similar Guardo organized activities. They deny Guardo's leaders the use of such public buildings as covered courts at the pretext of the city hall's having scheduled a similar undertaking. Who can afford to court the ire of city hall?

I may not be fully sold out to the idea of overfunding a campaign. But, Guardo is only playing the kind of politics our people are getting used to. I can only wish him luck and prays that when he wins, he yields back to the call of idealism.

On the other hand, I am appalled by the mayor's despotic tendencies. I saw the late Pres. Marcos apply them with horrifying effect when he discerned the loss of the people's trust in him. I just hope the mayor checks these this early or suffer the ignominy of maligned despots.

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