The candidates thus far

I am writing this at 4 p.m.. of Oct. 1, the first day for the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 18,000 elective posts ripe for the picking in the May 2022 elections. We will discuss first those who have filed and later, those who have announced their presidential candidacies.

Those who have filed for president include doctor and attorney Jose Montemayor under the Democratic Party of the Philippines. Aside from being a “Doktorney,” he also holds graduate degrees in Business Administration and Economics. He is a cardiologist at the Philippine Heart Center who topped both the medical and medical technologist exams.

Speaking with reporters after filing his COC, Doctorney Montemayor said: “I will eliminate the three Cs in this country: corruption, criminality, as well as COVID-19.” Whoever will be running the country, he said, should have ample knowledge about the virus. He also wants to focus not just on health care but also on dealing with the economic recovery of the country.

Doktorney Montemayor has gone quietly around the country on medical missions, giving free medicines, medical treatment and handing out free Bibles. He is also a pastor of the Born-Again Movement and banks on the support of the professionals and the Christian groups in his campaign.

Retired boxer Manny Pacquiao also filed his COC today. His loss a month ago in boxing has led to a parallel nose-dive in the surveys. He had a falling-out with his party, PDP-Laban, now being controlled by the Cusi group, so he filed his candidacy under the Promdi Party. Pacquiao is hobbled by a lackluster performance in both the Congress and the Senate. Hardly present, he would shoot his mouth off when he was there, and supported the banishment of fellow Senator Leila de Lima to jail under dubious drugs charges. Funding is also a problem, since Promdi has no financial clout, and Pacquiao has put on sale his house in Los Angeles as well as several properties to finance what might turn out to be a doomed campaign.

Moreover, he also chose former Manila mayor Lito Atienza as his vice presidential candidate. When asked why, he said that Atienza has had “50 years of public service.” But 50 years in public service could only be one year multiplied 50 times. As mayor of Manila, Atienza was credited (or discredited) with destroying some of the city’s beloved buildings and landmarks, including the Jai Alai building on Taft. He was a guest in our TV show at Aksyon TV and when I asked him why the building was demolished, he said, “It was to build a better project for the city.” That project never materialized and the heritage building was forever gone, thanks to a mayor who is, ironically, also an architect.

Speaking of Manila, among those who have announced their candidacy is Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, the current helmsman of the capital city. Yorme, as he is called by supporters, has racked up 23 years of public service: 9 years as councilor, 9 years as vice-mayor, one year as president of North Railways Corp. and one year as undersecretary of the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development. These, plus two years as Manila mayor, makes him the most experienced among those running, with the exception of Senator Ping Lacson.

Yorme has a good narrative hook for his campaign: a former slum-dweller who used to pick food scraps, drive a traysikad, collect newspaper and junk who became a movie star when discovered at a funeral wake. After a movie career, he went to college and finished a business degree. He finished two years of law school at Arellano and later received scholarships to take up executive management courses at Harvard and Oxford universities.

Unlike Pacquiao who talks of promises like giving houses to 1.9 million poor people, Yorma talks of prototypes. He has a typical or preliminary model of something from which other forms can be developed or copied. For example, the housing projects in Manila. I once campaigned at Baseco in the 2013 elections and it was all mud then. Because Baseco sits on soft land, the mayor built two-story townhouses in a Basecommunity of 42-square-meter lots where 229 families now live. He has also built 900 units of houses for informal settlers in San Sebastian Residences, San Lazaro Residences and Pedro Gil Residences. These are 15-story structures built on site, so that the informal settlers could live near their places of work. Tondominiums 1 and 2 are slated to be finished by year’s end, and a seventh Manila hospital has been planned.

Also among those who have announced their intention to run is Senator Ping Lacson, who ran before but lost as president. Like Mayor Isko Moreno, Lacson also touts himself as a man of action, but he is hobbled by his sponsorship of the Anti-Terrorism Bill as well as his work as police chieftain during the darkest days of the Marcos dictatorship.

Speaking of Marcos, son Ferdinand Jr. has been nominated to run by the father’s old party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. Bongbong has thanked the party but has not finalized plans to run. He is hobbled by a lackluster performance as a governor and senator, and like the moon is banking only on the reflected glow from his father’s light. I think he is still having talks with the Duterte family, who is pulling again a dramatic show for the whole country to watch.

President Rodrigo Duterte is barred from running for a second term and has announced his candidacy as vice president. The International Criminal Court has begun investigations in his alleged human rights violations committed under the “kill kill kill” policy. His daughter Sara, who leads in the surveys, has announced she will run again for mayor of Davao City, since no two Dutertes could run for president and vice president. But they had done that before in Davao. But to their chagrin, they must have realized that Davao is not the Philippines, so a Marcos-Duterte team might be formed.

Senator Bong Go has said he will not run for president and the convenors’ group 1Sambayan has nominated Vice President Leni Robredo to run for president. As of press time, she is still reflecting whether she would run for president or vice president of this sad republic.