Martin Diño, the original candidate for president of the PDP-Laban political party, pulled a fast one over the Commission on Elections by withdrawing from the race to Malacañang. Diño’s withdrawal renders moot and academic the Comelec’s plan to declare him a nuisance candidate on the flimsy ground that as an ex-barangay official, Diño has no means of mounting a serious political campaign for the presidency.
Observers say that Diño’s withdrawal is not an admission that he is a nuisance candidate as his critics allege. In 1986, Corazon Aquino, a housewife with no political experience, was not declared a nuisance candidate when she ran for president. Compared to Mrs. Aquino, at least Diño has political experience as an ex-barangay official.
Like Mrs. Aquino who rode on the success of the UNIDO party of Assemblyman Salvador “Doy” Laurel, Diño is supported by PDP-Laban, a political party which has been around much longer than other parties like the United Nationalist Alliance and the Nationalist People’s Coalition.
Although Diño does not possess the stature of the widow of Ninoy Aquino, he is not exactly a lesser known figure. Diño is the chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, a group which seeks justice for victims of violent crimes, and which fights corruption in high public office. The VACC is well-known in its own right, and Diño’s credentials negate his alleged status as a nuisance candidate.
If the Comelec is desperate to get someone declared a nuisance candidate, it should go against Senator Grace Poe, who insists on running for president even though she is not a natural-born citizen of the Philippines—a requirement imposed by the Constitution on anybody seeking the presidency. If Poe remains in the presidential derby, her supporters may just end up wasting their votes on a candidate who, ultimately, will be unable to sit as president—a nuisance in every sense of the word.
With Diño officially out of the presidential contest, PDP-Laban has officially designated Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as its substitute candidate for president. While this move is certainly good news to Duterte’s supporters and admirers, Duterte himself remains equivocal about the whole thing, although he once implied that he will abide by any decision his party makes on who is to run for president. Duterte also announced earlier that if God wants him to be president, then he will be president.
As expected, Senator Allan Peter Cayetano is buoyed by this recent development. Although Cayetano is running for vice president without a presidential candidate, his camp has been very optimistic about a possible Duterte-Cayetano political tandem for the May 2016 polls. Bright prospects in this direction were seen when Duterte and Cayetano held a five-hour meeting in Duterte’s Mindanao turf last week, and when Duterte had Cayetano as his special guest on his television program. The recent nod the PDP-Laban gave to a Duterte presidential candidacy strengthens the prospects of a teamup between the city mayor and the senator.
Adding to Cayetano’s good fortune is the public announcement from the Comelec that Duterte is allowed by law to run for president in lieu of Diño. This means that unlike Senator Poe, Duterte will not be dodging any disqualification raps from either his rivals or his possible critics.
To say that Cayetano will be pleased to have Duterte as his presidential running mate is an understatement. After all, Cayetano has repeatedly stated in public that Duterte will be the best president the country could ever have. From the perspective of the Cayetano camp, running with Duterte will complement Cayetano’s record as an industrious legislator.
Duterte’s anticipated entry in the presidential race will undoubtedly alter the political scene for the four other presidential aspirants—Mar Roxas of the pro-administration Liberal Party; Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance; Senator Grace Poe (who is running supposedly as an independent); and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Roxas will see a Duterte candidacy as a further division of the anti-administration votes and construe this development in his favor. By way of converse, the camps of Binay and Santiago will view this as a possible reduction in the number of their supporters. Duterte’s bid may not hurt Poe because political pundits consider Poe as an administration ally, as seen in her promise to continue the political programs of President Benigno Aquino III in the event that she is elected president.
Duterte appears to be the biggest gainer in all this. Voters uncomfortable with the allegations of plunder and graft against Binay, uncertain about the citizenship of Poe, and unsure about the health of Santiago, may opt for Roxas as the “least objectionable’ of the four candidates. With Duterte in the fight, however, these voters may go for Duterte. In addition, there are supporters of Roxas, Binay, Poe, and Santiago who may, in the finish line, opt for the unorthodox way Duterte deals with criminal elements in Davao City, with the hope that Duterte’s brand of instant justice in his city may solve the unmitigated proliferation of crime in the rest of the country.
If Duterte runs with Cayetano, supporters of the latter will add to that pool of voters supporting Duterte in his belated but nonetheless welcome bid for the presidency.
The only problem left in the premises lies in the equivocal responses Duterte has been giving to the news media and the public. With 2016 just two months away, further inaction, or even complacency, on the part of Duterte will only make his already delayed presidential campaign more difficult in terms of organizing a nationwide network. Competent campaign strategists and generous campaign contributors need to know soonest if they have a Duterte to support for the presidency. Since time is running out, Duterte must act quickly. Duterte’s supporters deserve nothing short of his coming out in the open, ready to do battle against all odds.