“It is Sara Duterte herself who is causing disunity and division within the UniTeam.”
As the campaign for the national elections enters its third week, we were treated to a mini-telenovela headlined by no less than Aksyon Demokratiko’s standard bearer, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso as he openly betrayed his running mate Dr. Willie Ong just to woo supporters of Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte.
Duterte, who is running as vice president of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas candidate, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., quickly doused speculations she is ditching Marcos in favor of Domagoso, who is rumored to be supported by the camp of President Rodrigo Duterte’s trusted aide, Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go. She even issued a statement pledging her loyalty to BBM and the UniTeam.
However, this is only one area of concern within the UniTeam regarding loyalty and their adherence to unity. And personally, I don’t think Inday Sara will pass the test of loyalty to the entire UniTeam ticket and her advocacy of unity being the second in line in terms of hierarchy.
You see, since Day One of the campaign, Sara has been openly disrespecting the 11-man senatorial slate of the UniTeam by endorsing an additional seven senatorial bets from other political parties.
While I have no idea how BBM and Sara came to an agreement over the choice of their 11-man senatorial team, since they have openly announced their slate, I believe they are both bound to respect the decision and campaign for the entire team.
But Sara, since their proclamation rally in the Philippine Arena, has been campaigning for the seven additional senatorial bets whom she describes as friends. They are: actor and long-time Duterte supporter Robin Padilla; former Cabinet official Sal Panelo; Sorsogon Governor Chiz Escudero; former police chief Guillermo Eleazar; former vice president Jojo Binay; former senator JV Ejercito; and reelectionist Joel Villanueva.
To be honest, I like most of them. Ejercito and Villanueva are personal friends. I was a fan of Eleazar during his stint as chief of the Philippine National Police. And I covered Binay when he ran for the presidency in 2016. I would even campaign for them in a personal capacity. But not in the case of Sara. As the vice-presidential candidate of the UniTeam, she is bound by the ticket’s decision and discipline.
By endorsing these additional candidates. Sara has effectively diminished their chances in the May 9 polls. With only eleven senatorial candidates in the UniTeam ticket, there is a high probability they could get the same votes as that of BBM or even higher. If BBM, who is projected to get no less than 30 million votes, then there is a strong chance these 11-man team could also get the same share of votes. But with the addition of the seven, six more than the 12 senate seats being contested, their maximum vote which they could get from BBM supporters are reduced by at least a third. But with the seven also enjoying the support of their respective parties, then there is the probability they could get higher votes than the 11 UniTeam bets.
Has Sara ever stopped to contemplate on what their 11-man senatorial team might be thinking every time she announces the names of the seven other candidates? The people will only have to choose 12 come May 9, meaning, six would not make it to her sample ballot to be distributed on election day. Who then, would she leave behind?
She has done this before. In the 2019 elections, her Hugpong ng Pagbabago fielded 14 senatorial candidates, two over the 12 slots being contested. So back then, who did she leave behind? Who did not make it to the HNP’s sample ballot?
And that is not the only case when Sara herself had sown disunity within their party. Also in the 2019 elections, she endorsed the candidacy of Joy Belmonte over PDP-Laban official mayoralty bet for Quezon City, Bingbong Crisologo. Being a partymate in PDP-Laban, HNP senatorial bet Dong Mangudadatu openly supported Crisologo. Thus, when HNP held its campaign rally in Quezon City hosted by Belmonte, the rally organizers, allegedly upon instruction from Joy, to take down Mangudadatu’s campaign tarpaulin from the stage.
Now, Sara is doing it again. She is even tagging Robin Padilla in UniTeam’s sorties, claiming he is already a part of their senatorial ticket, something which BBM has already personally denied.
And when asked by the media if he is now supporting BBM’s candidacy, Padilla answered in the negative saying he has yet to endorse someone for the presidency pending PRRD’s announcement.
And take note that aside from Padilla, the other six candidates being endorsed by Sara belong to other parties who have their own presidential bets. They are out and out opponents of BBM. Sara is not only shaming BBM and their ticket but is also openly defying him.
What if a UniTeam senatorial candidate, say Harry Roque, announces on stage that he is also endorsing as friend, and as a former colleague in the House of Representative, Congressman Lito Atienza, what would Sara feel? Or how would she react?
Senator Bato dela Rosa described it best when he said, that being assigned by Sara herself to address the issue of her supporters partnering him with Domagoso, that Sara is a member of the UniTeam, not the Divide team. But from the looks of it, it is Sara herself who is causing disunity and division within the UniTeam.
Ask any member of their 11-man senatorial team. I haven’t talked to any of them yet but my gut feel tells me how they are feeling every time Sara rakes the microphone onstage.