BY WENDELL VIGILIA and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
FORMER Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada, campaign manager for the senatorial slate of the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem, yesterday told the camp of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that the presidency is “not a game of hide-and-seek,” referring to his the non-appearance in political debates and some campaign rallies.
Tañada, a grandson of the late former senator Lorenzo Tañada, said Marcos’ penchant for evading debates is a clear sign that his camp “is embracing a different “cancel culture.’”
“Leadership is about showing up. It is about honoring commitments. The presidency is not a game of hide-and-seek,” he said. “If what drives Marcos to go back to Malacañang is to relive the ‘taguan’ game in the house of his youth, naku delikado ang bayan diyan (the nation is in danger).”
Marcos Jr. and his running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte have been skipping public debates since the beginning of the campaign period.
Marcos’ spokesman Vic Rodriguez, reacting to Tañada, said “leadership is about honoring commitments — the very same reason why presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos cannot be in two different places at one given time.”
“He (Marcos) had to politely beg off from media interviews, sometimes skip debates and fora in order to honor his promise to meet with grassroots leaders, join caravans and attend campaign rallies that have been scheduled way ahead of the requests for media appearances. He can take the consequences for not attending the debates and media fora, but not the loss of trust of his leaders and supporters with whom he had confirmed appointments. Because his words are his bond,” he said.
Rodriguez also said Marcos’ decision on whether to attend a debate sponsored by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on March 19 will be made this week, but maintained it would still depend on the schedule of the former senator.
Marcos’ camp has asked the Commission on Elections and other presidential candidates to discuss the debate format prior to the Comelec-sponsored event even after the poll body’s spokesman, James Jimenez, has announced that all presidential candidates, including Marcos Jr., will attend the debate scheduled on March 19.
On Monday, Comelec acting Chair Socorro Inting said candidates who will skip the debates sponsored by the polls body will forfeit their e-rally time slots.
The Comelec e-rally is an online platform that provides free livestreaming of rallies of national candidates for the May 2022 polls for the entirety of the campaign period.
The forfeiture was questioned by Rodriguez who said the Marcos camp wants to know the basis of the policy.
Jimenez defended its decision to penalize those who will skip the debate series.
“It is a way to make sure the candidates know how serious these debates are and how determined the Comelec is to make sure that the public gets to see them in all of the debate stages,” he said.
UNITY FOR WHAT?
Tañada said explaining a candidate’s the platform of government to the people, which can be done through debates, is an important task, especially for one who is gunning for the seat in the palace so Marcos “cannot just hide from his call of ‘unity.’”
“Unity in itself is not a platform, not a plan. Yes, we can be united, but united for what?
United for whom? Marcos is not a unifier, he’s the most divisive factor in this election,” he said.
Tañada, a ranking member of the Liberal Party and a former deputy speaker, warned the public that Marcos’ habit of calling off his public engagements will also cause him to cancel more important things, including the country’s pandemic recovery “should, by miracle, he wins.”
Tañada said, however, that the spate of “rally cancellations” that hit the Marcos camp cannot be blamed only on their candidate’s poor work ethic, but also on the lack of popular support, citing the cancellation of the Antique political event of the Marcos camp last February 24.
He said the “Robredo juggernaut” has been holding multiple rallies in a day, “as many as four in fact.” In the next 36 hours, he said Vice President Leni Robredo will be hitting six cities in four provinces in the Caraga region.
“And people would come, using their own money, bringing their own food, waving their handmade posters, kasi alam nila na sisipot si VP Leni doon,” Tañada said. “The difference between VP Leni, who has a disciplined work ethic, and Marcos is that Leni will show up while people will be stood up by Marcos.”
Tañada noted that in the past political rallies of the Robredo camp, the vice president drew huge crowds of very energetic and enthusiastic volunteers and supporters — 20,000 in Naga City, also 20,000 in Quezon City, 40,000 in Iloilo, 47,000 in Cavite, and 45,000 in Bulacan.
Robredo and her running mate Sen. Francis Pangilinan yesterday campaigned in Bislig, Surigao del Sur where she particularly appealed to the youth to be instrumental in her fight for a good and honest government, citing the role of young people in the EDSA People Power I that brought down the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.
“In the years leading to People Power, we’ve seen something like this: the youth deciding that the call for a change in governance is within their power and that it’s in their hands),” she said in Filipino at he Bislig City Cultural and Sports, Center.
Meanwhile, another Church-based group has backed Robredo’s presidential bid.
“We believe that a good leader must be truthful, honest, just, and be able to serve the people first before his personal desires. Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Gerona Robredo embodies these characteristics,” said the Lipa Archdiocesan Council of the Laity.
Data from the Commission on Elections showed that Batangas has some 1.8 million registered voters.
The lay group said they decided to come out with their endorsement in response to the call of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. And the teachings of the “Aral Ng Batangueño” catechesis. — With Gerard Naval
