‘…if I had a choice, I’d take a long nap till maybe 2028 and then see what has happened to Pasig City under three-term Mayor Vico Sotto and if the record is sterling I would be a senior citizen rooting for this Sotto to be vice president first and then president six years hence.’
OVER the last few days, I’ve been engaged in discussions with various groups of friends in an attempt to understand and evaluate those who have already declared their intention to run for president. So far, there are three, and all are males: Sen. Panfilo Lacson was the first, followed by Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso being the latest one.
I watched the spectacles of a “proclamation” that each gentlemen went through. I listened to them, and in the case of Mayor Isko I even listened to the Q&A that followed. I’ve followed all succeeding reports of their words and deeds post-proclamation, as well as gone over all comments about their track records as presented by followers and critiques alike.
I’ve heard friends say that Ping is the “more decent version” of Duterte’s “hitman side” (!!!); that Pacquiao is the real “naligo sa ilog ng basura,” or that Isko is the one we should support because he is the one best situated to defeat either Mayora Sara or former senator Bongbong.
I’ve also listened to my pro-admin friends, not being one to unfriend people just because I do not always agree with their politics. This group’s chatter is centered around individuals who have yet to formally declare their intentions to run for president.
I’ve heard those who believe that BBM is the best choice because he is the “best prepared,” while others advocate for Sara because “she is and is not a Duterte at the same time” (!!!).
No one seems to be plugging for Sen. Bong Go these days (go figure!) but I suspect that this is because this whole Pharmally thing has blown a big gaping hole into his presidential ambitions so he is now considered the less viable option to Sara, but then it seems that getting the Mayora on board is not as simple as that because she is said to really want to do things her way and I can imagine how that causes anxiety among many who are currently close to her father and enjoying the benefits of that closeness.
In every instance I’ve paused to consider the comments, but every time I’ve always come back to the same conclusion: I will go into hibernation and just wait for Vico.
Because of his age and the age requirement of the Constitution, I imagine Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto running for Vice President in 2028, and then running for President in 2034. I find that the age barrier provides him with an excellent opportunity to serve Pasig for a full three terms of nine years (2019-2028), enough to prove to one and all that he knows what to do and has “proof of purchase” to show, and then use that track record as a basis to project himself as the right man for the job.
At least, for me, this matters because for me, track record matters.
Of course, track record is not everything. On the one hand, you have the example of the one-term senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, winning the presidency in historic fashion in 2008 and proving himself relatively up to the demands of the presidency. (In 2008 and again in 2016 I was rooting for Hillary Clinton who I felt was “more prepared” for the presidency and had the added value of being a woman — but, as usual, I am never a good bell weather of the electorate!). Long before Obama, an untested Harry Truman was selected to be the vice president of a giant of a political figure, because Democratic party leaders figured they just needed a placeholder in the ticket, in a country where voters vote for the president—and vice president tandem and not (as in the Philippines) separately. But then Franklin Roosevelt died, and the untested Truman was now president just as World War 2 was ending and the Cold War was beginning. In many ways, Truman acquitted himself well.
And then you can also have too much of a track record. This is the problem with those who have been in public office too long because they start to reek of their “trapo” or “epal” nature. I need not name names, but I am sure you have your own list as I have mine. This is also the issue that arises when politicians can be caught saying or doing one thing one day and then the opposite on some other day, such as when Republican Senator Mitch McConnel in the US objects to end term presidential appointments to the Supreme Court when a Democrat is president but rams the same through the Senate when a Republican is president; or when Filipino politicians happily do the Nazi-like fist salute early in the Duterte Administration (maybe to earn brownie points from the President?) and then try to portray themselves as the un-Duterte candidate some five or so years later.
Thank God for the “recibo” that social media provides.
Bottom line, I have yet to get excited by our choices for 2022. The one who has a lot to offer comes across as boring, the one who comes across as most exciting has only motherhood statements (so far) to offer, and the third, had he been a UP student, would have been expelled for too many absences while engaged in rumbles with other fraternities. Don’t get me wrong: I still may end up voting for one of them if the list of choices is short, but I will be as excited to go to the polls in May to vote as much as I am always excited to go to my dentist for a wisdom tooth extraction.
But if I had a choice, I’d take a long nap till maybe 2028 and then see what has happened to Pasig City under three-term Mayor Vico Sotto and if the record is sterling I would be a senior citizen rooting for this Sotto to be vice president first and then president six years hence.
Track record matters. Character matters. Vision matters.
Oh — and our vote matters. Make sure you are registered — and make sure you vote!
