Quitting

His heart is not into it. He said so himself.

Bong Go delivered an opaque speech before provincial governors assembled at the Palace the other night (presumably invited by the President). He said his mind, his heart and his brain have not come to grips with his presidential run.

We could see that.

The most intriguing line in that inconclusive speech was this: “I am willing to make the supreme sacrifice for the good of our country, and for the sake of unity among our supporters and leaders.”

The use of “supreme sacrifice” is rather misspoken. A supreme sacrifice usually involved accepting death for a larger cause. It is what martyrs do.

Martyrdom is not demanded of Go. The most he could do is to quit being a nuisance by withdrawing his candidacy.

What Bong Go is trying to say, perhaps, is that he is willing to quit the presidential race to keep the political base together. That political base, personified by the provincial governors he was speaking to, is torn. President Duterte is clearly pressuring them to throw their support behind his anointed one. The local political lords would rather follow the winning bandwagon as indicated by the preference surveys. They would do that at some point in this campaign.

The Bong Go candidacy for president is not generating any excitement in the streets. But while it is there, the local power brokers are feeling the pinch. They are forced to support an unlikely candidate. Their hearts are not into it either. They will likely only deliver minimum compliance.

Rodrigo Duterte has been extremely cruel to his loyal aide.

Three years ago, he compelled Go to run for a Senate seat. But even as he sat as senator of the Republic, the President still expected him to function as gofer and gatekeeper at the Palace.

A few months ago, Duterte again compelled Go to run for the presidency, with the President positioning for a vice presidential run. That marriage made in hell would not happen. Bato de la Rosa was snatched from wherever he was and made to file for the presidency literally at the last minute of Oct. 8. Go slid down to vice presidential candidate.

On the last day for substitution, Duterte appeared at the Comelec with his ward in tow see him substitute for De la Rosa for the presidency. But Duterte did not file for the vice presidency as advertised. He would not run against his daughter.

He filed to run for senator instead, announcing he would instruct the sitting senators on how to properly conduct the business of that chamber.

Also, both Go and the President skirted filing as candidates of the faction-ridden PDP-Laban whose accreditation is now under a cloud of competing suits. Instead, they are running as the only two candidates of some ramshackle party no one ever heard about.

These jarring flips and flops did not confuse the opposition. They confused Duterte’s party-mates. Most of them are now preparing to fight their minor battles with no clear leader at the national level.

All of them are expecting the “sacks of money” Duterte promised them in another one of his careless speeches. If Go is the presidential candidate, those “sacks of money” should be coming from him.

Since the Edsa Uprising (and possibly since the authoritarian period), local candidates depended on presidential candidates to fund their local battles. That has become the standard operating procedure in our electoral politics. This is the reason all of our national parties are shells of previous presidential campaigns, including those that lost.

Lakas is the party vehicle of Fidel Ramos that had to affiliate with the National Union of Christian Democrats because the latter was the accredited party at the time. The People’s Reform Party is Miriam Santiago’s while the Aksyon Demokratiko was organized to support Raul Roco’s bid. The NPC was Danding Cojuangco’s vehicle when he ran while the PMP is Erap Estrada’s organization.

As the country’s political economy changed over the past few decades, so did the structure of electoral financing. Where before, money flowed from sugar barons and tobacco lords in the periphery, today fund-raising is from the center, whether from tycoons or gambling and drug lords.

Today, local powerbrokers expect the presidential candidates to raise funds and help finance their own local battles. This is where the real money really matters, not in the maintenance of troll farms or in lugaw feeding programs.

When the provincial governors were summoned to the Palace, it seems the “sacks of money” were not ready. That is breach of the unspoken protocol. Needless to say, there was disappointment in abundance.

Bong Go must have felt that disappointment, like heat from an unattended oven. He knew what would happen after this breach of the unspoken protocol.

On the other hand, the formation of the 4-party “Uniteam” signals to the local powerbrokers that the electoral machine will be fueled. Allies will be attended to. Local battles will be won.

Guess where the local powerbrokers will go.

Local electoral contests in this country are inherently bi-factional. That militates against having two “pro-administration” candidates for president. Nor can there be two or more “opposition” candidates.

The hard realities of campaign costs will simplify this contest.

Leni Robedo’s campaign has apparently decided to be a “movement” rather than a conventional electoral organization. That means they will have few allies among local powerbrokers and less machinery to fund. This is what Miriam Santiago tried to do.

Go, for his part, faces defections from the presumed base.