Cebuanos always love the underdog
Those who refuse to heed the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it. That is not my original line. The sage wrote it and I consider that line apropos to the state of politics in our country today, especially the politics in Cebu. I was already old enough to vaguely remember now, those years in the late fifties when then Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr., our beloved "Serging," was suspended by his peers majority of whom were members of the ruling Nacionalista Party, the very same party that Serging's late father, Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. founded. Serging belonged to the Liberal Party, the opposition party at that time. He was suspended for speaking his mind and in attacking then President Carlos P. Garcia who was from Talibon, Bohol, and incidentally married a lady from Mactan, Leonila Dimataga or Doña Lilang.
Of course, later, Garcia lost to the Liberals and was replaced by Diosdado P. Macapagal from Lubao, Pampanga. Cong. Dadong was a son of a very poor couple from Lubao, Pampanga. Macapagal was an underdog, the vice president who challenged the incumbent president Garcia. Macapagal won. The Osmeñas then were with Macapagal. They were Liberals together with Ferdinand E. Marcos of Batac, Ilocos Norte. Macapagal promised not to run for reelection and had Marcos hoping to lead the LP in 1965. But Macapagal, like his daughter much later on in history, did not fulfill his promise and did run for reelection. Marcos, the underdog became a turncoat and turned Naciolista. In the NP Convention, the leading candidates were Emmanuel Pelaez of Misamis and Fernando Lopez of Iloilo. Marcos, the underdog won.
Marcos started very well with his vision, "this nation can be great again," and his mission to build a "new society." But then he declared Martial Law when his second term was about to expire. Marcos gave rise to so many underdogs like Lorenzo Tañada, Jose W. Diokno, Jovito Salonga, Francisco "Soc" Rodrigo, Raul Manglapus and, of course, our own niño bonito, Serging Osmeña. Then there were young Turks who were underdogs themselves. They were Ramon Mitra, Salvador "Doy" Laurel, John "Sonny" Osmeña and, of course, Marcos' own fraternity brother, the fiery, dynamic, aggressive and passionate Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino from Concepcion, Tarlac. The people loved the underdogs. They hated the bully in Malacañang. And so, it will be in 2016.
Here, in Cebu, the ruling class was led by Don Ramon Durano of Bohol who formed the triumvirate Durano-Zosa-Dumon. That was composed of Ramon Durano, congressman of the first district, Manuel Zosa from Barili, then congressman of the old sixth district I from Toledo City down to the southwestern town of Dumanjug and Ronda, and Tereso Dumon of the seventh district which is now practically a combination of the third and the fourth districts. They were joined by Isidro Kintanar of the old fourth district, called the SAAD towns of Sibonga, Argao, Alcoy and Dalaguete. The ruling class pillars joined Marcos' KBL. The Osmeñas and the Cuencos were the underdogs. Even the Gracias, and Governor Eddie "Ediegul" Gullas were with KBL. That was the only way to survive.
But in the elections in 1986, the massive machineries of the KBL were not able to prevent many underdogs to win the polls. Earlier in Cebu, Dr. Osmundo G. Rama, uncle of suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, defeated Doña Beatriz D. Durano in one of the most unexpected upsets in our province's political history. Earlier, during Martial Law, the rag tag Pusyon Bisaya won over the powerful giant, the KBL. I remember that the Garcias then were aligned with the KBL, while Hilario Davide Jr., along with Marcelo Fernan and the eloquent Talyux Bacalso were then the underdogs. But the people did love them and made them win. The young and the untainted won over the powerful veterans.
And so, the current crop of ruling class candidates, the bets for the ilustrados and the hacienderos, the high priests of trapos politics, the self-righteous who claim monopoly of the Daang Matuwid can never be sure of the 2016 elections. The suspension of Rama can even become a game-changer. Many voters who have hitherto been undecided are now most likely to go opposition. We are not saying that Rama is a saint nor completely immaculate, but who is? And that is for the court to determine. The suspension's suspicious timing speaks for itself. The Filipinos are not stupid. The singling out of the opposition bets does not sit well with the psychology, the culture and the natural inclinations of Filipinos to take the side of the underdogs. Such overkill of the underdogs does leave a very bad taste in the mouths of decent and fair-minded voters. Soon, the bullies will realize the evil of what they have done. By then, it shall be too late.
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