Tit for tat

The countdown to election day is just five days to go. Barring earthshaking, unforeseen events – like yesterday’s ash explosion of Mt. Mayon in Albay – the country’s holding of its next automated elections will take place as scheduled on Monday.

Following the Mayon ash explosion, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes was obviously quick and ready with responses in case of such unexpected events. Brillantes cited contingencies are in place such as possible postponement of elections in Albay areas that are exposed to unpredictable volcanic activities of Mt. Mayon.

Other than election-related violence, one of the world’s most active volcanoes like Mt.Mayon also poses risks to lives of people who are within the immediate surrounding areas.

Per latest monitoring of the Philippine National Police (PNP), election-related violence has claimed the lives of 35 people in the past 112 days since the election campaign period started. One more was added yesterday with the killing of Lakas-CMD mayoralty candidate, retired cop Rudy Abella who was in a political rally in San Jose, Tarlac when shot dead by riding-in-tandem assassins.

A third class municipality with 15,900 registered voters, the town of San Jose in Tarlac is not in the PNP nor Comelec’s “hot spots,” or areas of concern where there was high incidence of election-related violence in the past polls.

The police noted Abella could not possibly be a threat to the projected hands down victory of re-electionist Mayor Jose Yap Jr. who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). Police work and politics seemed to be blurred in this town.

The police suspect this is more a case of assassination hit by the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Tarlac. Ironically, Tarlac is the home province of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III. Much earlier, the NPA admitted to having authored the recent ambush attempt that wounded Gingoog Mayor Ruthie Guingona and killed her two police escorts.

Noticeably, the reported election-related violence mostly involved local politics in the countryside far from the close monitoring by the central government authorities. Thus, these cases of election-related violence has been obviously committed with impunity.    

Closer at home, election-related violence so far reported around Metro Manila involved hotly contested mayoralty races in the cities of Manila and Taguig.

The camp of former President Joseph Estrada and his runningmate vice mayor Isko Moreno denounced as the handiwork of their rivals the stone-throwing incident during the UNA campaign rally in Sampaloc last Saturday night. Of course, P-Noy backed Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim denied the accusations.

Estrada earlier asked the Comelec to place the city of Manila among the “areas of concern” to prevent escalation of election hostilities. Mayor Lim countered that the alleged stone-throwing incident might be a case of “hit me” by the Estrada camp to justify their petition to Comelec. Once Comelec decides to include Manila as “area of concern,” the PNP will deploy additional policemen and place it under the poll body’s close monitoring during election day.

In the mayoralty race in the city of Taguig, many were injured during the melee between opposing supporters of mayoral candidate Rica Tinga and  Mayor Lani Cayetano at City Hall also last Saturday. Tinga’s supporters were blocked from holding their campaign rally inside Taguig City Hall that led to the bloody scuffle.  

As of press time yesterday, there is no official word yet from the Comelec and PNP on whether Manila and Taguig will be declared election hot spots.

Fortunately, the campaign battles among the senatorial candidates and party-list groups at the national level have not been tainted with any election-related violence. The fight, however, is just as cruel and brutal.

But apparently, this kind of tit-for-tat battle being waged in the underground is the so-called “black propaganda” machines operated by shadowy political characters.

As the senatorial contest entered its last stretch, the front-runners in the surveys and in the mock polls are now the ones at each other’s necks. Ironically also, the attacks are even coming from their own camp as in the case of the Team P-Noy senatorial ticket. 

Currently bearing the brunt of mudslinging is re-electionist Sen.Loren Legarda (NPC). Being in coalition with President Aquino’s Liberal Party (LP) under Team P-Noy, NPC assailed the attacks against Legarda. Consistently topping the surveys, Legarda decried the allegations against her mis-declaring her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as distorting facts to bring her down from the top spot of the winning “magic 12” circle.

Accused as behind the smear campaign against Legarda is fellow Team P-Noy re-electionist Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano of the Nacionalista Party (NP). Cayetano, who has steadily maintained his spot in the top three, has remained unusually quiet though on these accusations.

Ex-NPC and now independent candidate, re-electionist Sen.Chiz Escudero has his own share of black propaganda problems that earlier pulled him down from No.2 spot. After nine years in Congress and now running for a second term at the Senate, Escudero considers himself a “veteran” of political campaigns to weather the kind of dirty tricks thrown among politicians.

 Much earlier, another NPC senatorial bet, Cagayan Rep.Jack Enrile, who is running under the UNA ticket, was the subject of black propaganda that hounded him and his father, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. In February, Enrile began to slide down from his high ranking in senatorial surveys after vicious allegations hounded him and his father.

His alleged involvement in the murder of actor Alfie Anido in 1981 cropped up anew and recently a bogus press release from his campaign camp about his supposed withdrawal from the senatorial race. “It is clear by now that there is a concerted, sustained, and well-funded effort by some parties to prevent me from winning a seat in the Senate,” Enrile rued.

 â€œThis is the silly season of politics when people will say or do harmful, hurtful and even the most outrageous things,” Enrile quipped. And if I may add, ‘tis the political season for tit for tat.