BBM-Sara Leads Campaign for Elective Posts in Philippines

Volume 3, Issue No. 31

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America and beyond . . . . . .

 

 Our latest as of Wednesday, February 9, 2022 

~ Ten candidates for president and nine for vice president have begun barnstorming for votes in the May 9, 2022, elections in the Philippines along with 64 aspirants for the 24-member Senate, and regional, city and municipal offices. Some candidates are believed to be running for the funds of it, implying financial motives. On Tuesday, February 8, the beginning of a three-month campaign period, the tandem of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and their senatorial bets officially launched their candidacies. 

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THREE-MONTH CAMPAIGN PERIOD BEGINS

BBM for President, Sara for Vice President

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Elections belong to the people.”- Abraham Lincoln

TORONTO - In a field of 10 candidates for president of the Philippines, one aspirant stands out - Ferdinand Marcos Jr., "Bongbong" or BBM, fondly to his legions of supporters - the inheritor of both adoration and scorn, and everything that goes with the name.

He is in tandem with Sara Z. Duterte, the current mayor of the City of Davao in Southern Philippines and the headstrong daughter of incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte, who herself is competing with eight other hopefuls for votes for vice president.

BBM is called the "Tiger of the North" and Sara the "Eagle of Mindanao" - an allusion to the vote-rich regions of northern Philippines and Mindanao, the second-largest island (after Luzon where Manila is located) in the archipelago

Together, they make up the BBM-Sara UniTeam which, so far, appears to be poised to win by a landslide in the May 9, 2022, national elections for a six-year term based on surveys after surveys of voters regionwide and nationwide.

Their pre-poll showing could be attributed to their famous (or infamous) last names and their experience as local executives. 

BBM is the namesake of Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., the ousted president who ruled the country for 20 years, 14 under martial law. Critics called Sara the female version of the fiery Duterte, who, despite his curses and foul mouth, remains well-liked and whose approval rating hovers north of 70 percent.

Like the others, these two scions of popular families launched their first push at the Philippine Arena, reputed to be the world's largest indoor arena with a seating capacity of 55,000 in Bulacan, 30 kilometers north of Manila, on Tuesday, February 8, the beginning of a three-month campaign period for national and regional offices.

There, the UniTeam proclaimed their official candidates, including those running for the Senate. BBM and Sara spoke to a sea of green and red (their campaign colors) shirted crowd in and outside the arena. 

But it was BBM who I'm a little familiar with, having covered Malacanang Palace, the seat of power, as a foreign correspondent in the mid-70s, especially the turbulent years leading to the February 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled Marcos' reign, and on to Cory's Aquino's presidency.

Watching him speak, BBM really surprised me. He seems to have inherited his father's ability to connect with the masses and put them under his spell.

My sense then was that BBM's sister, Imee Marcos, was the logical choice to succeed the president given her early training and exposure to politics. But she fell in love with a married man, Tommy Manotoc who eventually divorced his wife, the beauty queen Aurora Pijuan, the 1970 Miss International, and married Imee. (Background story at: https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0107/010747.html).

It was the biggest scandal at that time as it crisscrossed individual loyalties, politics, and family relations. Manotoc's mother, Nena LaO, was a sister of then foreign secretary Raul Manglapus' wife Pacita LaO; and Conchita LaO, wife of Eugenio Lopez Jr., owner of the broadcast giant ABS-CBN. Manglapus and Lopez were both political enemies of Marcos. (Background story:  https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/sunday-life/2010/11/21/631544/imee-marcos-her-loves-martial-law-betrayal-and-life-after-edsa).

The Manotocs lived in San Lorenzo Village in Makati, their house just a few hundred meters from the Manila office of the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, the newspaper I worked for a number of years until I accepted an offer to put up the branch of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German news agency, and head it as Manila bureau chief. But I digress.

BBM's speech and the way he delivered it at the campaign kick-off reminded me of the late strongman. Now, I am of the opinion that he ultimately is the rightful heir of his father's political savvy. He could be a rabble-rouser just as well.

Aside from BBM, there are nine other aspirants for the presidency. However, four, including incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao, and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, are considered serious candidates. The joke is some candidates are running for the funds of it, implying financial motives.

Sara Duterte is among nine candidates for vice president that also includes Senators Vicente Sotto and Francisco Pangilinan. A total of 64 candidates are running for a seat in the 24-member Senate. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).