Would the old pols let Bato jump the line?

LAST column I said Police Director-General Ronald dela Rosa would have a hard time becoming president even if he had a strong backer in the person of, ahem, President Duterte.

In an unexpected outburst recently, he said he would grant pay and pension increases to cops “when I become president.”

But how would he accomplish that? Maybe he has in mind the magnetic pull of Mr. Duterte to catapult him into the highest office.

Duterte right now can get anyone elected if he really wanted to. He’s currently at the height of his power, he can do practically anything he likes. He’s at the same pinnacle of power that enabled the Roman Emperor Caligula to appoint his horse a consul.

Which is not to say that Dela Rosa is a horse but to illustrate how power at its rawest and peak can be strange and grotesque.

Yes, that powerful. But would Duterte do it? He may want to, come 2022, but it may not be so easy.

First, would Duterte be still as powerful in 2022 as he is today? For all we know he would be a lame duck president by then.

And, here’s the more critical factor: Would the old-time politicians allow Dela Rosa to run in 2022 and give up their own chance to run?

Would Bongbong Marcos and his family let someone who came from nowhere and who has no political pedigree become president ahead of the Marcos heir?

Would Richard Gordon allow Dela Rosa? Gordon has been “anointed” by Mr. Duterte as the next president and he wouldn’t let that opportunity pass. No individual would let an endorsement like that pass, no matter how seriously or unseriously it was made.

Would Manny Pacquiao let Dela Rosa cut in on the line to the presidency ahead of him even though he thinks he’s more popular than Dela Rosa?

So many others are aspiring and waiting in the wings. Alan Peter Cayetano, Koko Pimentel, Francis Escudero, Grace Poe, Pantaleon Alvarez, Rodolfo Farinas and others.

A non-traditional politician like Dela Rosa will have a chance in 2022 depending on the dynamics at play at that time and the status of then retiring President Duterte, assuming things will turn out normally or no deaths occur along the way.

But the politicians will always be in the way. They will not give up the chance so easily.

Who will back up the politicians? Why, the power elite, of course, whatever may be its composition by then.

If the politicians wouldn’t allow themselves out of the equation, would the elite be too far behind? The rich and powerful who let the traditional politicians feed off their hands will always be there to pick and choose their candidates.

As long as the politicians and the elite are there to conspire, outsiders will have a hard time getting through the gauntlet. Unless they’re willing to play the game and be the elite’s servants and enforcers.

So, when Bato dela Rosa promised policemen pay or pension increases “when I’m president,” no doubt a lot of politicians said under their breath: “No so fast, Bato.”

*** Tantrum Ergo. Sidewalks have long ago disappeared from our streets. It’s because we’re natural land-grabbers. We encroach and “steal” the sidewalk in front of our houses or establishments and force pedestrians to walk in the street or road and there mix it up with all kinds of vehicles and put life and limb in jeopardy.