Curing and burying

So what's new? We are seeing the name headlines, the same complaints, the same charges that we have always seen in elections past. As soon as the trends started to indicate who the winners will be, the reports started to say "Canvassing postponed", "Bet seeking declaration of election failure", "Comelec suspends canvass", "Tensions rising in ___", "Exclusion of returns sought", "Ballot boxes missing", and so forth, and so on. What seems to be different is that we no longer see the names of movie actors and other showbiz personalities hogging the lists of winners.

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I can't remember all their names, but I believe there are more than a dozen movie actors and actresses who bit the dust in the recent election. In the senatorial race, two of the country's most popular ones, Cesar Montano and Richard Gomez, are trailing in the results. Others who also tossed their hats into the political ring suffered similar rejections, like Christopher de Leon, Mark Lapid, and so many others. The ones who have proven their worth already, like Vilma Santos and Herbert Bautista, showed staying power, but only because they had been in office for some time and have shown that they can deliver.

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Congratulations to the people of Naga City who, despite the efforts of detractors to have their mayor disqualified, still stood by him and gave him a resounding victory. Shortly before the election, opponents of Mayor Jessie Robredo trotted out claims that he should be disqualified and prevented from running for reelection because he is supposed to be a Chinese citizen. Nobody was more shocked than Robredo who had been running for, and winning public office for about 20 years now without being questioned. And Robredo is no run-of-the-mill kind of government executive. He has not only won several national awards, but had also bagged the prestigious Magsaysay award for his accomplishments as mayor of Naga.

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The citizenship thing has become a weapon for those in power who want to tamp down the successful local executives who may become potential threats to positions they want to reserve for their own people, maybe for members of their families. Remember how presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. was slammed with charges that he was an American citizen, and how the courts seemed to dilly-dally in resolving the case. There was also candidate Alan Peter Cayetano who was made to prove that he was truly a Filipino. In the case of FPJ, the claims against him only managed to uncover the scandals in the agency whose head was caught with his tampering game, but who is, until now, scot-free.

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It was not a citizenship issue that his opponents could have flung at Manny Pacquiao, but, surprisingly, did not. Remember how Pacquiao was reported to have registered as a voter in Manila and then also in General Santos City? I now believe his opponent, the petite Darlene Custodio is a very wise and cunning politician. All her statements ever since she realized that Pacquiao was actually running against her were so diplomatic and tactful that not even die-hard Pacman supporters could fault her. I wonder how many millions Manny handed out during the campaign.

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How much it had been would just be like the proverbial drop in the bucket. He has announced that he is leaving soon for the U.S. to treat his family to a vacation. And then he will train again for the next fight which is supposed to take place in September. Win or lose, he will still collect millions (in dollars) there. What if he had won? As congressman, not even the millions in pork barrel he can get in a year can match his take in one show in the ring featuring any challenger.

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I am really astounded by the ability of Bacoleños to make up puns and take everything with a sense of humor. When I asked one of the cheering loyalists at the Bays Center who were the two survivors of the Performance Team, I got floored by the answer. "Ang manugbulong kag ang manuglubong", which translates to "The one also cures and the one who buries". He was referring to the two elderly reelectionist councilors, Reynold Iledan, a medical doctor, and Catalino Alisbo, who runs a funeral parlor. I tell you, nothing can beat the wit of the Filipino.*

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