Slate magic

It's not even election season yet, but already, the names of the candidates for the 12 seats in the Senate that are going to open up in 2019 are being floated to the general public.

For PDP-Laban, the ruling party du jour, the sensational reveal was that it would be presidential spokesman/ex-congressman Harry Roque and communications assistant Mocha Uson that had already been gifted with seats in the party slate. Aside from that, the transgender congressperson that is Geraldine Roman was also included in the yet-to-be completed magic 12.

Test bubbles? Is this a barometer that would enable the powers-that-be to determine whether these potential candidates would remain as their prized racehorses, or whether, if the resulting reactions were unfavorable, they would be discarded in favor of forthcoming flavors of the month?

In politics, it's hard to tell. But as we always say, time will tell. (I love these poetic moments).

Was Geraldine Roman's inclusion the reason why the other politically visible transgender, Sass Sassot, confronted BBC reporter Jonathan Head this week? If you believe the commentaries coming out in blogs and opinion columns, Jonathan Head apparently believes that the confrontation with him was a set-up, and contrived. But set up for what purposes? Just to generate noise.

I couldn't make any sense out of a person potentially alienating a member of the press, with lots of tears and drama, and in front of other journalists at that, just for the sake of more fame, attention, press coverage, media hits, likes, and retweets. (Or so said the Instagram account holder who gets a dopamine fix every time a posted photo gets a heart).

But perhaps, now, that whole scandal makes sense? Was it a vehicle for another transgender to make it into the Senate slate? Or is this too fanciful a speculation? Is even Sass for Senate too way out there for reality?

Although, come to think of it, two transgenders in the same political party might be too far-fetched given the current social environment. The kingmakers working behind the scenes would probably be squirming at the thought of having to present that option to the decision makers. It would have come down to the equivalent of a head-to-head celebrity death match between Geraldine and Sass! (Ah, the delightful vision of claws unsheathed, fangs bared, unladylike tussle that this thought brings.)

Well, we've seen the impossible become possible in the Philippine political theatre, what with boxers, actresses, and noontime TV show hosts making it, so what's stopping major, major bloggers with millions of followers from dreaming of that accomplishment too? After all, a former schoolmate, the honorable Harry Roque, who once ran as a mere nuisance candidate for the student council in Law school under his New Sons party, is now running for an even higher and more prestigious post.

We all know that at the end of the day, this era of politics is about numbers. It's ultimately a popularity contest, so really, the translation into political votes isn't much different from the rising cachet that influencers in social media are enjoying.

While we're at it, perhaps the Senatorial search team can just go to Instagram and figure out who's popular there. If Selena Gomez were a Filipina, she'd be top choice, what with 129 million followers. Who's the top Filipino in that arena? Should we expect his/her name in the slate soon?

‘We all know that at the end of the day, this era of politics is about numbers. It's ultimately

a popularity contest.’