‘An earthquake called Sara’

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s announcement last week that she would be endorsing the respective bids of 14 candidates (although only 12 Senate seats are being contested) in the fast approaching May senatorial derby was something akin to a Category 9 earthquake on the Richter scale, which is the globally-used measurement of an earthquake’s strength.

(Since the Richter method was adopted some eight decades ago, the biggest recorded earthquake so far was the Great Chilean earthquake in 22 May 1960 with a 9.5 magnitude.)

Now, almost everyone in the country is aware of who Ms. Duterte is and the kind of clout she wields. As the eldest daughter of the popular President Duterte, she is the virtual head of the so-called “Duterte diehard supporters” or the DDS group which is composed of a huge number of voters principally responsible for electing him as leader of the land in the 2016 presidential polls which is why many senatoriables are now stumbling all over themselves trying to get on her good side.

However, Ms. Duterte and her political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) or Alliance for Change, which she formed early last year on the pretext she wished to support her father’s programs, penciled only 14 choices whom they would be rallying behind in the 13 May midterm elections.

Truth to tell, if you weren’t one of the lucky ones to have been picked by Inday Sara and the HNP, as sure as night turns into day, you would be totally dismayed as this lessens your chances of victory on election day 13 May.

D-Day is this coming 15 February when Ms. Duterte is expected to reveal her final choices during the HNP’s first political rally in Pampanga to be hosted by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Gov. Lilia Pineda.

The HNP, however, had already made known last October 2018 they would be campaigning for at least eight senatorial bets – Sen. Cynthia Villar, former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, former Philippine National Police Chief Ronald de la Rosa, former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, Sen. JV Ejercito, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano and Maguindanao Rep. Dong Mangudadatu – so there are still six slots up for grabs.

Villar, head of the Nacionalista Party which aligned itself with the HNP, said she hopes to convince Sara that it is wiser to trim to a Magic 12 slate, in lieu of the 14 as previously announced, in order to avoid the mistake of over-voting resulting in spoiled ballots.

A senior staffer in Villar’s office, when queried by media men, said the names of Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce were never mentioned for inclusion in the HNP’s Senate line-up fearing the party’s image might be compromised if it is seen associating with politicians whose backgrounds are hamstrung by corruption and plunder issues.

Recall that in 2014, Revilla, Estrada and Enrile were indicted before the Sandiganbayan for plunder and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, together with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, for getting huge kickbacks from public funds channeled to fake public works projects.

According to findings of the Ombudsman, Revilla allegedly pocketed the biggest sum of P224 million from his PDAF budget, Estrada banked P183 million and Enrile took home P172 million.

While Revilla was acquitted of plunder raps by the Sandiganbayan last December — his co-accused Mrs. Napoles and chief of staff Richard Cambe were both found guilty of said offense and sentenced to reclusion perpetua — the graft cases hounding Enrile and Estrada are still hanging fire in the anti-graft court.

Prior to his daughter’s bombshell declaration, President Duterte, too, came out with his own list of senatoriables composed of basically the same names: SAP “Bong” Go, Gov. Marcos, Sen. Villar, Gen. De la Rosa, Sec. Roque and Rep. Cayetano, with some new inclusions, namely, Sen. Sonny Angara, former presidential adviser Francis Tolentino and singer Freddie Aguilar. Mr. Duterte said he is doing this due to utang na loob since they also helped him out during his successful presidential campaign in 2016.