Marcos’ Davao (mis)adventure

After his disdainful regard for the PDP Laban senatorial slate, ascribing to it the demeaning and sick Pilipino saying, “inutusan lang bumili ng suka” (they just went out to buy vinegar), the tactless President Bongbong Marcos Jr. got his comeuppance from the herded crowds in Carmen and Tagum, Davao del Norte.

While Marcos was heaping praise on the candidates of his Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, some hecklers were shouting “Duterte! Duterte!”

Marcos arrived late to the quadrangle where the campaign rally was held. Already the atmosphere had become inhospitable since no one in the crowd was allowed to leave for what the police asserted were security reasons. Thousands of policemen were deployed to cordon off the area.

The town of Carmen is midway between Davao and Tagum cities. A portion of the national highway was closed to motorists who had to take long alternate routes or forgo their trips.

Proceeding to Tagum City to attend a recruitment-for-employment event, Marcos walked among local folks who were doing their usual weekend chores. He waved at them but the obviously unenthusiastic people merely looked at him while others looked the other way.

The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) saved the day for some of the Alyansa candidates. By the time the bets arrived in Davao for their rallies in Duterte country, they had been tagged “Team Sinusuka,” while the PDP Laban slate was referred to as “Team Suka.”

The PIA invited select media personalities mostly from the broadcast sector. The media encounter was held at the Banana Beach Resort that was quite far from the city proper. Present were Manny Pacquiao, Abby Binay, Tito Sotto, Erwin Tulfo, Benhur Abalos and Francis Tolentino.

The Davao sortie of Marcos and his Alyansa slate was far from being eventful. Not all of the candidates attended the rally. The rally venue was Carmen which has a population of about 80,000. Nearby is Panabo City with about 200,000 residents while Tagum City has about 300,000; Davao City has 1.7 million. It was not logical for the organizers to opt for Carmen except it is closest to the Tagum Development Corp. (TADECO) where the plantation workers could easily be transported to the rally by bus, if you get my drift.

The Carmen rally was later dubbed an event that rekindled political unity. That of course is empty political rhetoric. While indeed the original political unity was forged in Davao City, it was promptly wrecked from day one after Bongbong Marcos, Sara Duterte and Martin Romualdez took their oaths and assumed their respective positions.

Speaker Romualdez quickly replaced House committee chairpersons and deputy speakers identified with Vice President Sara. President Marcos did not lift a finger. The VP realized later she had been had and decided to quit the Lakas-CMD. That event is best remembered by the emergence of the descriptive word “tambaloslos,” “never again Marcos,” “mangga” (which does not refer to the fruit but to “manggagamit” which means “exploiter,” and “nabudol” meaning lured and swindled.

Presidential Assistant Anton Lagdameo tried to salvage the Carmen event by invoking the success of the banana industry which took off during the term of the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.

The industry, however, took a bad turn when Japan imposed very high tariffs on Philippine bananas. It was China that saved the industry, which is the economic backbone of the Davao region, from collapse by absorbing 80 percent of what the Cavendish banana growers produced. But Marcos’ belligerence toward China pushed it to look for other suppliers like Vietnam which even allowed China to develop its own banana plantation within its territory.

Indeed, there could have been many exciting events to rekindle but all that is water under the bridge now. The Davao region remains to be the political bastion of Duterte, and Marcos Jr. will never be able to regain the trust of Davaoeños, and never of the Dutertes.