EDITORIAL - Courting Cebuanos

First it was Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro invading northern Cebu towns two weeks ago to distribute assistance for victims of Typhoon Frank which pummeled Central Visayas last year. 

Yesterday noon, Senator Manny Villar was in town and invited Cebu reporters to lunch to talk about his presidential plans. The senator seems to make it a habit to visit Cebu every now and then.

Before Teodoro and Villar, former president Joseph Estrada and Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino have already visited Cebu at least twice.

Among these presidential aspirants, Teodoro and Villar were the most frequent visitors here. But have you ever noticed why these presidential aspirants keep visiting Cebu nowadays? 

Well, it is Cebu’s voting population that draws them here. According to the Commission on Elections records, Cebu has the largest number of voters of all the provinces in the country.

It’s undeniable that Cebuanos can spell a difference in national elections, especially in the presidential race. In many cases, they played a crucial role in helping a candidate win the presidency.

A case in point was the 2004 presidential election in which they supported President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who defied the odds to outsmart a more popular opposition candidate to remain in power.

Despite being saddled with controversies, she secured the support of the Cebuanos, who gave her a margin of more than one million votes against her closest rival, the late Fernando Poe Jr. The opposition claimed massive cheating in favor of Arroyo but has yet to prove such allegation.

But being vote-rich does not mean Cebu is like a flower that is willing to give all its nectar to an invading rapacious bee. Cebuanos hold the distinction of voting for the right candidate in presidential elections, a fact that is hard to ignore among presidential aspirants.

That is why a presidential candidate would always pour vast resources into Cebu, hoping Cebuanos would believe he or she is the right one for the job. However, more than their large political machineries, candidates must strive hard to win Cebuanos’ support.