Don’t believe those poll surveys yet
Pundits who claim the 2022 election is all but over may end up eating humble pie come April 2022. Voters usually decide only after the debate series who their choices are. The surveys from October through December 2021 are just indicators of voter preference at this point in time. It’s not yet cast in stone. Even if surveys claim that voter’s have made “hard” choices, that can still change. This means the race isn’t over. It has begun early because of the need for more visibility for the candidates who are lagging at the polls.
Comelec has voter total at 67.3M including OFWs. This is indicative of Filipino’s interest in making their voices heard given the next President will be responsible for the transition to the pandemic is endemic phase. They are concerned about the economy, jobs, education and public health. There is the threat of Omicron looming in the horizon. It is already pummeling Europe and North America. It is more contagious than Delta and the scientists are still out about the severity of infection. This is another sword hanging over the world as the pandemic enters its second year come March 2022.
Proof of how the election environment is fluid is the emergence of recovery and rehabilitation efforts of the regions badly-damaged by Supertyphoon Odette as an election issue. This will definitely be a concern for voters in the Visayas and Mindanao who bore the brunt and damage of the wind and rain brought by the typhoon. This will also impact the economy in terms of agriclture. It is harvest season now in the two Negros provinces and the flooding caused by Odette has made for the early onset of tiempo muerto for the sacadas who harvest sugarcane.
The withdrawal of Sen. Bong Go and President Duterte from contention in the 2022 means they can endorse a candidate outside of their political circle. Or not at all. The administration still has the largest election war chest which will be beneficial to its candidate of choice. This is if Duterte chooses to endorse any candidate at all. Among those who are running, the only logical choices for the President are Sen. Ping Lacson and Bongbong Marcos, since these two are the most similar to his brand of politics.
Lacson and Marcos are also the logical protagonists in the 2022 race because of their insistence on an issues-based campaign devoid of black propaganda and mudslinging. The debates will be the highlight of the campaign as this gives the voters the opportunity to effectively size up the candidates with regard to their stand on the issues and governance platform.
Which brings us to the issue of what Sen. Ping Lacson termed as calamity politics. No sooner than Sen. Manny Pacquiao issued a call to Vice-President Leni Robredo to join forces in extending aid to our kababayans in need, that she left in a huff on a “tour” of the provinces badly-hit by Odette. Lacson slammed the move noting that public servants should only have one mode which is public service. “Election or no election, we help. Period.”
Socmed political pundits were left scratching their collective heads in disbelief again considering the trip would serve no useful purpose than giving Robredo media play again. She also announced that her campaign volunteers headquarters in Katipunan, Quezon City would be converted into a donation hub.
She didn’t stop there. Yesterday she went live on Facebook to give the public her “report.” This is another bad PR move on the part of Robredo as it left her critics with a bad taste in the mouth considering that she appealed for donations first prior to embarking on her three-province swing. It would’ve been five if the Governors of Negros Occidental and Oriental agreed to meet with her but both begged off. As it turns out, the President was already scheduled to visit both provinces and meet with the Governors which left Robredo in the lurch.
This opened up a new round of circle-jerking amongst her supporters who praised her to high heavens yet again while media gleefully covered her trip and reported her every move. In the meantime, the other candidates quietly prepared their donations for shipment to the affected areas. The President went island-hopping on a chopper to inspect the damage and give instructions to his Cabinet members. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez promptly obtained a $500M disaster relief loan from the World Bank.
It’s obvious that Robredo still doesn’t understand how government works despite her being a part of it since 2013. Three years in Congress and five years as Vice-President, she still functions like an LGU head and not the second highest official of the land. It’s quite obvious that she’s not qualified to become President because she has no idea how to use the powers of the Presidency at crucial junctures such as a time when there is a need to declare a state of calamity in order to expedite the release of government funds for relief, rehabilitation and recovery.
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