Political officer

When I still dabbled in politics, more than two decades ago, I pushed a man to be assimilated into the organization of a national political party. Shortly after the nomination I made, the man came back. He proudly claimed to have been designated a "political officer" of the party in Cebu City.

The definition of the term "political officer" was not found in my old reliable dictionary when I consulted it. But, notwithstanding the passage of time, it still appears to be the same concept today as I understood it then. The title "political officer" (hereafter, I shall refer to it as PO, simply) is supposed to be given to a person who is tasked to promote another personality who is seeking an elective position. From my insignificant experience of our electoral process though, a PO usually works for an incumbent elected official who plans to seek re-election or aims for a higher position.

It is ideal that a PO operates where he resides because he is supposed to be familiar with the preferences and leanings of key players. After all, among the priority concerns of the PO is the cultivation of their support for his principal. For example, if Sen. C looks forward to being a candidate for president in 2016, he should designate, as his political officer in Cebu, a Cebuano, because, it is expected that with his knowledge about local politicians, this officer can work his way around their personal motivations in relation to the direction of his principal and hopefully, in the process, advance the latter's political stock.

There are times however, that for strategic reasons, a politician who plans to throw his hat to a higher elective position in a coming election, designates a political officer from among his familiar staff members and sends him off on a mission in an area far removed from his residence. Of course, the PO is briefed on the nature of some perceived relationships his principal has with local politicos. It is up to his savvy how to develop such relationships into full bloom alliances. On the whole though, in the strange place of his new assignment, this confidant of a PO becomes a faceless worker in a sea of challenges.

The first rationale for designating an off-based PO is that a worker who is a stranger to the place is not readily visible. His activities, not being easily shown on the radar of anticipated political opponents, he can progress in his work unhampered.

The second reason for designating this kind of PO is that he works without biases.  Because he starts from virtual political ground zero, any commitment of support he gathers is believed to be sincere and therefore, dependable. Considering that he commences his spade work from practically nothing, the alliances he succeeds to establish indicate the kind of acceptability his principal enjoys.

I learned that one PO of the second kind came to Cebu, from Metro Manila, about three weeks ago. As he tried to touch base here with some personalities, whose names were obviously in the list given him by his Manila monitors, he made known the presidential intention of his principal, an incumbent senator. I also learned from what the PO said that his principal acknowledged, quite candidly, being far behind the front runner in the latest survey. But, he seemed to suggest that before December of this year, the statistical survey graphs will drastically change. His forecast, "Wait for developments within a month" or words to that effect, was prophetic. He did not specify.

While the PO did not specify, the events unfolding in Manila made me realize what he meant. The bloody scene happens to be a constitutionally allowed function called legislative investigation. The senate, in aid of legislation, may make inquiries. For this purpose, it can ask resource persons, at the pain of contempt, to appear in its hearings and testify. Presently, persons have come forward to the senate investigation with testimonies that are clearly aimed to assail the integrity of a front running presidential hopeful. The testimony is aided by what fellow lawyers call as leading questions. And who asks these leading questions? Who else, but the principal of the PO, subject of this column.