“I am a teacher. It’s how I define myself. A good teacher isn’t someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed. That’s the way I see myself, so whatever it is that I will do eventually after politics, it’ll have to do a lot with teaching.” –Justin Trudeau
Despite publicly raising arms with incumbent Iloilo City Mayor Jose ‘Joe III’ Espinosa III, presidential daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, is reportedly rooting for his rival in the race for Iloilo City mayor, incumbent Iloilo City lone district Rep. Jerry Treñas. However, with whispers of possible presidential aspirations in 2022, she cannot afford to play with loaded dice in Iloilo City.
“Wooing certain candidates” or showing them “moral support” is a political gambit that has been played up by figures both past and present. Antagonizing one party and embracing another is tantamount to political suicide for any candidate seeking national office in the future; which is why Duterte doesn’t just want to please Espinosa and Treñas but their supporters and sponsors as well.
Her gestures should not be interpreted with finality every time she is seen hobnobbing with local candidates and whoever wins the mayor’s race will be an asset to a future “Sara Duterte for President” campaign.
Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP), the Davao City mayor’s fast-expanding political coalition, will surely invite local officials following the May midterm elections.
She is running in 2022
Anybody who believes Sara Duterte will not seek the presidency should wake up – she did not create HnP, which has made PDP-Laban stalwarts insecure, for no reason. Her body language (as well as that of her father, President Rodrigo Duterte) speaks loudly and her trips and activities across the country offer strong possibility she will make a run in 2022, when her father’s term expires.
The Davao City mayor must be under the impression that she and her father can do for the Philippines what they did for Davao City.
While the elder Duterte has not admitted it, no father would stand in the way if there appears to be a good chance his daughter could succeed him as president.
***
Drug lords linked with the Filipino-Chinese community who had previously been active in elections will likely shy away and keep a low profile this May. They can’t afford to make any noise, even if they claim to have solid ties to powerful officials in government, law enforcement, and the military.
Given their awareness of the president’s standing order for the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines to “make life difficult” for drug lords, such threats hang over their heads like the Sword of Damocles; make one fatal false move and they will be decimated. Such cases will eventually be buried among “killed for resisting police arrest” statistics.
It would appear most of them have “disappeared” since Duterte was elected president. If they aren’t buried six feet underground or fled to China, they are likely on “standby” for the 2022 race – only fools can’t read between the lines.
***
Alex P. Vidal, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo./WDJ