Whom to vote for president? I still don’t know

For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we will talk politics with former Government Service Insurance System general manager Winston Garcia. Ever since he threw his hat into the political ring, Winston Garcia, who has been politically dormant and has been unseen for more than five years, is back in the limelight.

Out of the blue, a ten-year dormant case against him and the GSIS board of directors was suddenly resurrected making even the headlines of The Freeman and the front-page news of the Philippine Star. I can only suspect that certain puppeteers with media connections caused this case to be resurrected and caused its publication to gain wide public knowledge. So who had a hand in this? We can only suspect that this came from the camp of the Liberal Party  because it is only Winston Garcia who has threatened to cut short the stint of Gov. Hilario Davide III.

As we are talking about politics, we cannot escape discussing the issues hounding the presidentiables today because in today’s presidential race, so many people are asking me… “Whom should we vote for president?” I’m sure this question has also crossed the minds of our readers. In fact when he was here last Thursday, I couldn’t resist asking former Pres. Fidel V. Ramos who he is going to campaign for president. He merely gave me a wink, which makes me suspect that even FVR doesn’t know which of the presidentiables he would support this May.

So let’s hear it from Winston Garcia on what is happening in the political scene today on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00PM and on Wednesday and Saturday. We also have replays on MyTV Channel 30 at 9:00 tonight and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday.

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A friend of mine who was in Davao and Maguindanao for the weekend texted me this message, “In my on-going trip now here in Maguindanao and Davao, clearly there is a bandwagon for Duterte shaping up. His mis-statements do not bother the people here. With his asking for apology through his meetings with some bishops, he may have sealed the elections, whether that was for show or not.” I have no doubt that Mayor Duterte will get Mindanao… after all no one from Mindanao has even dared to run for president.

Mindanao is a very troubled island and yes while a great majority of the people who live there are predominantly Catholic, Mindanao plays host to many religious cults like the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association of Supreme Master Ruben Ecleo, Jr. who was found guilty of parricide and if my memory serves me right, this fellow is still in hiding. Then there is the famous Pastor Apollo Quiboloy (I met him once during a meeting with his eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal in his residence) whose following has even bested that of the Iglesia ni Cristo.

Then there are parts of Mindanao where Christians are a minority. So you have an island that is ruled by political warlords, from Dinagat Island, Camiguin, and the warlords of many provinces like the Ampatuans of Maguindanao who have been replaced by the new warlords, the Mangundadatu’s. Many places where the Muslims thrive are ruled by their Imams or their respective Datu’s and they too have their own set of political warlords. Then there are areas in Mindanao like Surigao or Compostela Valley where the New People’s Army thrive and therefore considered influential. With this political mix…surely a Mayor Duterte brings hope in Mindanao.

I gathered that a recent survey shows that Mayor Duterte is leading in Metro Manila. But this was before the political storm that he created himself when he put his foot in his mouth by cursing Pope Francis for visiting Manila, a visit that caused the already bad traffic in Manila to worsen. Yet Mayor Duterte didn’t attack PNoy for allowing the APEC summit to be held in Manila, which caused an even worse traffic nightmare and caused billions of pesos in losses due to productivity losses.

But remember those Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia Surveys can be manipulated to promote a candidate. In my view, Comelec should stop the publication of these surveys because they can mislead our people into voting the wrong candidates who are the people who pay those pollsters and have them published in our newspapers and TV.

Since Christmas time is approaching, I think people will busy themselves with their daily Christmas chores. Here in Cebu we are also preparing for the Sinulog Festival and the much-awaited 51st edition of the International Eucharistic Congress right after the Sinulog Week. So there is still time for us to pray and ask the Lord for enlightenment so that our people will truly discern who should be the rightful leader who should replace the unlamented Aquino Presidency. God help this beleaguered nation!

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