Senate race updates
I LIKE the seeming silence of candidates at the local level for the May 2019 polls. There haven’t been reports of open politicking although the maneuvering already started. Candidates are obviously doing sorties in the villages and social media is abuzz, although the activities of candidates there have yet to explode to a frenzied level. That should be reserved for the actual campaign period.
The campaign for the 12 available seats in the Senate is already on, however, and results of the recent surveys by credible firms like Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Station (SWS) are reflecting the candidates’ efforts and modest successes. Some changes can already be noticed when you look at the rankings, especially the top 12.
The most noticeable is Bong Go who, from being a top 12 outsider, is now in the middle of the pack of 12. But then, among the senatorial bets, it is Go and his people nationwide that have been very determined and aggressive. The politicking is obvious but who can quarrel with success? This development also shows the voters’collective maturity— or lack of it.
Television networks are already cashing in, what with senatorial bets already buying those expensive spots. Even the apparently resources-strapped opposition slate Otso Derecho already has its TV spots, although with all of the bets in it. Those spots should, by this measurement, be cheaper. The important thing is for the opposition to still be in voters’consciousness. Remember the saying, “out of sight, out of mind”?
Among those who benefited immensely from those TV spots is Go. He was the only one among administration senatorial bets who was shown being endorsed by no less than President Duterte himself. The presidential endorsement plus the pouring of unli resources for his campaign has paid off. Let us see if he can sustain that until VD (voting day) or when the other senatorial bets up the ante, sort of.
Go’s rise, though, is also to the detriment of other pro-Duterte senatorial bets like Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and even “the real Macoy’s” daughter Imee Marcos, who have dipped in the rankings. This could mean that pro-Duterte senatorial bets are canceling each other out. This could also be the reason presidential daughter Sara Duterte has refused to endorse only 12 senatorial bets. For the Duterte administration, it could be “matira ang matibay” in the senatorial race.
Some of the opposition senatorial bets are still in the top 12, which means that their supporters are not prepared to let them go as yet. I have been wondering what those who did not vote for Duterte in the 2016 elections will do in 2019. As a whole, they are bigger in number than the pro-Duterte voters. Will their collective strength be felt in 2019?
The political exercise in May is held in the middle of President Duterte’s term. It thus also serves as a referendum on the President’s rule. Interestingly, Duterte’s ratings in surveys have remained high. Would that also mean that pro-Duterte senatorial bets will sweep the senatorial elections? As they say, “abangan ang susunod na kabanata.”