Butch Bagabuyo “We compete in the land of giants. What we lack in size we make up for in focus and agility.” – Clayton Jones TO assure Kagay-anons that there will be no cheating during the presidential and vice presidential race in our City of Golden Friendship, here are what we, the PDP-Laban city council has done so far: The legitimate PDP-Laban city council is composed of stalwarts and long-time party members who are responsible and reliable local political strategists of Kagay-anons who have had national exposures in politics. First and foremost, we made sure that the local council will be composed of genuine PDP-Laban members based on the party’s Constitution and By-Laws, who are the respective trusted leaders of the three viable mayoral contenders, namely: Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez, Mayor Oscar S. Moreno and the ailing former Mayor Vicente Y. Emano. We met regularly and discussed our action preparations, not action plan even as we have never ever asked nor accepted any cash donation from anyone despite our humble economic status in our city. And, the beauty of it all, is that the three contending political parties in our city can rest assured that their political “trade” secrets remain their own and not shared with the PDP-Laban City Council. It is precisely because of this collective set-up that the PDP-Laban City Council is well aware of the goings on in the local level, specifically, to wit:
  • The names of the barangay officials, who are with the local Liberal Party, the CDP and the Padayon Pilipino are known to us because we are aware of the insignia they are wearing, be it Liberal, CDP or UNA. However, collectively, we have the distinct privilege of knowing that their hearts and their votes are for the Duterte-Cayetano team being the last hope of our people for a true and meaningful change in our city.
  • Individually, we know the actual number as well as the names of the poll watchers of the three contending political parties in our city as well as the names of the ward leaders who recruited them; hence, this early we already have a good idea of the expected number of votes that the Duterte-Cayetano team will be credited with unless the VCMs are illegally manipulated and/or configured to produce a fake tabulation.
Because the various volunteer groups of the Duterte-Cayetano team in our city have somehow coordinated our respective preparations, undoubtedly, the warm bodies of the Duterte-Cayetano tandem have already reached the homestretch, and as far as the legitimate PDP-Laban City Council is concerned, we have done our task without accepting or asking donations from businessmen with vested interests. Because “Super Digong” Duterte has become the undisputed super rockstar phenomenon, the sovereign Filipino voters have made up our minds to have a true and meaningful change now unlike in all past elections. Hence, like it or not, the elections in Cagayan de Oro are over but the counting for a landslide victory for the Duterte-Cayetano team as well as the Rufus harus team after the congressman assured the Cagayan de Oro voters that the BBL is, for all intents and purposes, dead (but not the hopes and aspiration of the Bangsamoro people). This is so because the CDP, the political party of Rodriguez and his slate, has already revived its original plan of working for the overhaul of the 1987 Constitution in favor of a federal form of government for the entire country. Consequently, there will no longer be autonomous governments in the Philippines but several independent states under a federal government. Ergo, the income of each and every state in the Philippines will no longer be sent to the federal government, unlike today, where our revenue are sent to Imperial Manila and only a portion (60-40 sharing) is left from the very source of the income. Otherwise stated, all the income of the Bangsamoro will be retained by them and only a small portion is sent to the federal government, the Philippines. Similarly, the revenue of the City of Cagayan de Oro will be retained here in our city and only a small portion, most like between 20 percent to 40 percent is sent to the federal government of the Philippines. With this set-up (federal form of government), the senators will be elected by their respective states, unlike today, when the entire country elect them; hence, only the rich and powerful dynasties, such as the Marcoses, the Aquinos, the Couquangcos, to name but a few, are elected as senators because of the enormous expenses involved in the campaign.
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“In war, number alone confer no advantage.” –Sun Tzu True to our expectations, the three other contending presidential aspirants trained their guns during the debate to no avail on our man. The uncoordinated efforts by the Filipino foundling but not a natural born citizen who sleeps with her American husband who used to be a manager of the world’s largest intelligence corporation having enormous intelligence contracts with the US, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Mar Roxas, all turned out to be a dud. Instead of presenting their specific solutions to the ills affecting our country, they chose non-presidential issues, which “Super Digong” himself baited them into to it.  On the other hand, our man was well prepared to show the world that he is indeed going to be the next president of our country--a true leader of the long abused and excruciatingly oppressed Filipinos. Here is my take: Undoubtedly, Grace Poe Llamanzares looked like she was bombarded with all possible issues raised by her debating mentors. Unfortunately for her,  most of which issues, she could not have gained advantage of for sheer lack of experience in governance and the necessary time to properly choose the best answer to every important issue. For his part, Binay came gravely wounded that he appeared too belligerent for comfort against the Super rockstar phenomenon who himself mastered the Art of War by Sun Tzu. Not only that, the defections coming from almost all fronts in Binay’s camp were too damning on his gravely bruised ego. Thus, Binay came out the sure loser and is clearly out of the race except if the race was  going to be won by the last placer in the debate rather than the front runner since three weeks ago and kept on surging despite his gutter lingo. And Roxas, the consistent tailender, came out as the most inefficient prophet of doom but not against his opponent, Duterte, but against our country the Philippines. Too bad for Marimar, the Filipino people have already made up their minds that PNoy and the Liberal Party have already junked their original candidate, Marimar, in favor of the choice of the ruling elites, the Marcos, Aquino, Cojuangco and Binay dynasties, to mention but a few from Imperial Manila. Undoubtedly, Duterte is going to be the next President of our country if not, the Independent Federal Republic of Mindanao-Sulu-Basilan-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi (but only if the Comelec, God forbid, allows cheating). Duterte-Cayetano pa more! Tsada, di ba?