Rodrigo Duterte upended the Philippine political landscape with his successful 2016 run for President. As he prepares to step down, the race for the May 2022 election is currently dominated by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his daughter, Sara Duterte, running for President and Vice-President.
What can the other candidates adopt or drop, from their respective campaigns?
1. It doesn’t pay to be critical of the President and his administration. If you do this, his base just rallies around him and you lessen your chances of winning them over. Best example? Leonor Antoinette Robredo. Runner-up is Dick Gordon.
2. Stick to the issues. Don’t resort to black propaganda or mudslinging, directly or indirectly through your trolls. It turns off the voters. They will respond well if you bring up legitimate issue or inconsistencies. The same is true with criticizing the Duterte administration’s policies. The public welcomes criticism with basis not just criticism for the sake of which is petty.
3. Do your best to appear sincere not plastic. Look at how Duterte won over voters in 2016. He repeated his platform over and over again. What changed from each sortie was his ad lib. Duterte didn’t claim to be an expert on anything and everything. He admitted his strengths and weaknesses. He offered solutions for his weaknesses. He had messaging discipline and was consistent until the last day of the campaign. He didn’t make Davao City his point of reference under his Mayorship. He presented himself to the people as an applicant for the position of President. He let the voters see for themselves what he accomplished in Davao during his watch. In short, he made it known to the public that he was running for President and was serious about it.
4. Generate organic support on social media with engaging content. Alternate between the serious and the light side. You can’t be serious all the time and you can’t be funny all the time either. Show your human side. Don’t give the public the impression you’re being handled or worst, packaged. Best you present yourself warts and all like Duterte did. You’ll reap the same benefits as he did. Don’t whine about trolls. Yes there are trolls but there also real people who don’t like being labeled as such. If you want to play in the sandbox, you play by its rules. You can’t make your own.
5. Do your homework on the issues but don’t sound condescending or act like a know-it-all when explaining the same to the public. Sincerity is what voters are looking for. They will vote for those whom they think understand their plight and will fight for them. Always watch out for inconsistencies in you statements and answers to questions. If you don’t have an idea how to answer it’s best to admit it rather than look stupid answering what you can’t.
6. Take into account your audience when engaging them. Duterte cast himself as the “bugoy-bugoy” who didn’t even think of becoming a public official but was just forced into it because his mother was too old to accept Cory’s offer of the officer in-charge appointment for Davao City Vice-Mayor. As he repeated to his audience over and over again “ingon sa akon ng aking Papa hanggang pantalan ka lang dong.” This was his line to the masa. But when faced with a more sophisticated accent, you saw that he was widely-read which was evident in his vocabulary.
7. Prepare very well for the debates. Like your life depended on it. This is your one and only chance to show voters how you stand out from the competition. Review the 2016 debate series and make sure you don’t repeat any of the mistakes Binay, Roxas and Poe made when up against Duterte. This will be a tall order for Robredo, Domagoso and Pacquiao. Only Lacson and Marcos can engage each other at this level for the benefit of the voting public.
8. Last but not the least. The public is done with the Aquino versus Marcos narrative. The same is true with the vilification of the Marcos’. Leave it up them to judge Bongbong Marcos at the ballot box. The average Pinoy doesn’t believe that there is no corrupt public official. Their basis of judgment is what they see as in the case of Duterte who hasn’t changed much since he won the Presidency. This is why his teflon protection is thicker than Erap’s. Don’t praise any of the Yellow icons unless you want to have a harder time convincing voters to choose you over your rivals. The Filipino would like to move on from Aquino versus Marcos which is why BBM is the frontrunner in the race at this point.
Postscript: This was written in the midst of three “Presidential Job Interviews” which aired over GMA-7, YouTube and DZRH. You have seen how your preferred Presidential candidate has conducted himself or herself. Would you still vote for him or her? Or are you now inclined to make a switch to his or her rival?
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