Specter

The most fascinating presidential candidate this election season has not filed his certificate of candidacy.

Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of Davao City, never said he would seek the presidency. Nevertheless, a deeply committed following insisted that he runs for the highest office in the land.

Until literally the last minute for filing of candidacies, a small crowd held steadfastly at the Comelec main office, waiting for their candidate to materialize. All sorts of rumors circulated, mostly about his taking a private plane to Manila to beat the deadline.

When the deadline came, Duterte was found lounging at home. He simply could not bring himself to reconcile with the idea of seeking higher office. He was also irritated persons who have insinuated themselves into his (non-existent) campaign have been making public pronouncements and even putting up streamers with his name matched with some stranded vice-presidential candidate.

The PDP-Laban (now an ailing party of one), however, took the precaution of fielding a presidential candidate. The party nominated barangay chairman Martin Dino as its presidential candidate.

Dino now stands in danger of being declared a “nuisance” candidate. If that happens, the PDP-Laban itself will be reduced into a “nuisance” political party. To avert that, Dino has withdrawn his candidacy and the party invoked an earlier resolution drafting Duterte for the presidency.

The PDP-Laban used to be a robust political formation born of the merger between the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino and Cory Aquino’s Lakas ng Bayan. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel used to head this party. Today the party is headed by his son, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel – its only known member holding an elective post.

By deciding to field Dino as its presidential bet, PDP-Laban puts the Comelec in a quandary. Given the party’s electoral record, it is not easy to dismiss this formation as a nuisance. Without a credible presidential bet, however, it might be easier to purge PDP-Laban from the record of functioning parties.

The PDP-Laban, finding itself in hard times, could be trying to turn the rules to its advantage. The rules allow for a political party to substitute its candidate on or before December 10. The spirit of that provision, however, imagines some sort of unforeseen turn of events that disables a candidate from pursuing his candidacy.

The Comelec might not be amenable to forcing a reluctant candidate to run as being among the conditions imagined in the spirit of that provision. There lies the rub.

The Comelec might not be inclined to allow the PDP-Laban to substitute its candidate. The probable substitute candidate might still be indisposed towards running.

There is a double blind here. Koko Pimentel might be playing at the ledge, as he did with the Senate “subcommittee.”

At any rate the specter of a Duterte candidacy (by substitution) is kept alive in the event the LP manages to mow down the other rivals for the presidency. So too is kept alive the specter of the PDP-Laban as an actually functioning political party.

Planting

This has now become an international scandal. International news organizations have carried the story of this newest Philippine industry: planting bullets on the luggage of unsuspecting passengers.

I felt the fear of passengers when I used the airport last week. They were watching the x-ray operators from every angle to make sure no bullet-planting happens.

On my return flight, I noticed only Filipinos lined up at the counter where pieces of luggage were sealed with plastic wrap for a fee. They were afraid the contents of their bags would be pilfered at the NAIA.

If a poll were taken today, I am sure our airport personnel will rank lower than the Abu Sayyaf in terms of public trust.

We thought the bullet planting racket was limited to passengers for international flights. According to a recent news report, an engineer boarding a plane from Davao City was victimized by the bullet scam. Since he must have failed to catch the hint and turn over some cash, the poor fellow was booked and charged for illegal possession. He is now out on bail.

Then there is this story of a teenage girl who sings for a community choir. The choir was off to Korea to compete (and won the gold). The poor girl was victimized by the bullet scammers. She was forced to miss her flight and pay hard cash to rebook her flight just to catch up with the choir.

From the accounts we have heard, the scam is apparently well known among the other airport services. But until one brave woman stood up to the extortionists, no one dared expose what was going on.

For weeks this story simmered and nothing was heard from the absentee manager of the Manila airport. Only yesterday did the DOTC call for a meeting to address this racket. The DOTC being what it is under Jun Abaya, I will not bet good money on this matter being solved.

Presidential spokesman Sonny Coloma tried very hard to downplay this scandal, saying only a small percentage of passengers were victimized anyway. He pleaded with the public to put the matter in this “context.”

I have known Sonny. He used to have a brain.

Add to Coloma’s spiel about “context” the brain-dead conspiracy theory advanced by pro-Aquino fanatics. They are now trying to convince us all the bullet-planting that has happened was part of a plot hatched to undermine the candidacy of one Mar Roxas.

The Liberal Party, it seems, has become a hazardous zone where brain cells die very quickly.