THE MOUNTAINEER

Kiss of death
(Part 2)
Edison Baddal

A case that may have helped downgrade the image of the Team Unity is the alleged involvement of high government officials in the “fertilizer scam” in 2004. This project, which involved the distribution of packaged fertilizers to farmers in the countrysides, was aimed at increasing the latter’s yield per hectare.

Eventually, this was allegedly diverted to Arroyo’s presidential campaign in the same year. Thanks to such chicanery the quality of lives of the targeted beneficiary farmers failed to get a boost.

Even with the economy being drumbeated since 2004 up to now as expanding, it was not felt by people in the grassroots particularly the farmers. Consequently, the number of households considered as poor then was basically the same number at present as no substantial improvement seeped into their lives since then.

Another reason that may have dented the TU image is the supposedly damning evidence of widespread cheating in the 2004 elections evidenced by the “Hello Garci” tapes. These tapes supposedly contained the verbal exchange between the President and then Commissioner Garci to manipulate election results in her favor.

Succinctly put, having taken the entire Filipino people for a ride through an illegitimate win during the last presidential joust, the erosion of credibility of the administration may have definitely rubbed on the TU Senatorial candidates.
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Meanwhile, the discomfiture could be attributed to the fact that the people want to thwart any attempt at amending the constitution to change the form of government from presidential to parliamentary. This is perceived as among those proposals to be pushed by TU candidates once they control the majority in the senate based on statements bandied about before the elections.

It also goes without saying that it is subtly among the hidden agenda of the administration through the senators once the latter buckle down to work. Nothing is farther from the truth as having ridden roughshod over two previous impeachment attempts in the lower house, the administration will unmistakably do everything within its means to avoid facing another grueling impeachment attempt.

At some point, the debacle of the TU candidates in the recent polls is clearly a blunt message to the current dispensation that the idea of changing the form of government now is not yet palatable, politically speaking that is, to the majority of Filipino voters by and large, such a form of government is still quaint as far as most Filipinos are concerned.

Hence, with such cool attitude, they are not yet ready to embrace parliamentarism or that presidentialism may not have yet outlived its usefulness as the democratic form of government in this country so that people having gotten used to it can still forbear with its built-in weakness.
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Relevant to the above, a private organization suspected of having covert funding from Malacanang attempted to utilize the process of initiative to change the form of government from the current presidential to parliamentary. This was in the first quarter of 2006. People who were assembled then in barangay centers were made to sign a petition which contained the above proposition to be subsequently forwarded to Congress for enactment.

However, this did not prosper, although it garnered the required number of votes, as it was junked by the Supreme Court as it contained mostly questionable signatures. The decision sort of affirmed the contrary attitude of the majority of the people to the controversial proposal then. In effect, the true sentiments of the people to the proposal then have been seemingly transformed to their partiality to the GO candidates in the last elections.
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For the second question, it can be gauged by the results of the elections not only in the senatorial level but at the local level. Elsewhere in the country, much touted candidates who had high chances of winning were walloped by their lesser known and endowed opponents. We see this in the appalling loss of Manny Pacquiao to his opponent.

Manny’s vaunted charisma and popularity due to his inimitable feats in the ring failed to persuade the majority of voters to go for him even with insurance offer to boot. His opponent sagaciously concluded that his being identified with the administration ultimately did him in.
Same thing happened in the case of two gubernatorial candidates of Pampanga who were soundly beaten by Fr. Panlilo. It is like that the identification of his rivals, Pineda and Lapid, with the administration could have contributed partly to their loss.

However, the seamy side of their personal and public backgrounds also eroded much of their credibility as candidates. This image directly clashed with Fr. Panlilo who posed as a righteous candidate with lofty campaign slogans. Essentially, having registered himself as a clean candidate, his sublime spiels were taken hook, line and sinker by the electorate. In so doing, he effectively presented himself as a sheep although seemingly in wolf’s clothing due to a discolored face and a homely guise. In contrast, both his rivals, appeared like wolves in sheep’s clothing because they had nothing less than despicable reputation.

Similarly, same held true for the shocking loss of Kim Atienza to senator Lim for the mayorship of Manila. The Atienzas were staunch supporters of the administration and have vast resources but it failed to turn things around to their advantage. However, it could have been a different story altogether had Lito been the contestant and not the son. This is because Lito once won overwhelmingly over Lim during the 2001 local elections for the same position. Surprisingly, the father’s gumption and political acumen failed to carry his son to victory.
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Matter-of-factly, if we consider the second question as a rhetorical question, the answer is implicit in the context of the question. As a hypothetical question, there are two sides of it. If a candidate exhibited competent leadership in his incumbency sans any link to violent politics or degrading chicanery, he can still manage to snare political leadership even if allied with the administration.

This is because his credibility is virtually intact despite such alliance as shown by the inclusion of Angara and Arroyo in the winning circle of senatorial candidates. On the other hand, a candidate regarded as a protégé of Malacanang but has no track record of proven competence for political leadership, is by no means guaranteed for victory even with vast resources to boot.

Finally alignment with the incumbent dispensation and equity of incumbency may have their advantages but they are not always as they sometimes backfire.