Kerwin Espinosa cried. Former police Col. Royina Garma cried. In May 2024, Sen. Bato dela Rosa cried. Crying over spilled milk? Hmmm.
If there’s a politician who has a reason to cry, it’s the incumbent Cagayan de Oro city councilor who has to run as an independent candidate after being booted out of the minority because he wanted to join the majority. But the majority didn’t accept him. And there were some protocol difficulties—he forgot to ask permission from the minority’s city hall leader.
Since the majority and the minority have kind of joined forces resulting to a coalition for the 2025 election, and the minority that doesn’t belong to that coalition has formed an alliance with a former mayor, the city councilor was left with no coalition and alliance to cling to, so he’s running for reelection as an independent candidate.
Desperate political teams will include any name as a filler just to have a complete list of candidates. If on the day before the deadline of the filing of the certificate of candidacy (COC), you were invited to join the team, you’re the filler.
But if you were invited to join the team months before the deadline, you’re definitely not the filler. You’re the source of funds. No, not the fundraiser. You are the source. They will use your money to ensure the team’s victory. No, not your victory. Their victory. They will even exclude your name from the sample ballot.
Now that the COC deadline is so over, your co-team members will start calling you to give money for food, transportation, tarpaulins, tents, photographers, videographers, social-media experts, and other pre-official-campaign-season expenses. Consider that as investments, though, and not as expenses, since they have promised to make you win. That’s exactly the reason why you’re running—their assurance to make you win.
Look at your opponents and see if you do have the chance to win. The District 2 representative winner is the easiest to predict—the incumbent is running unopposed. No one would dare run against him anymore. The city mayor result is also easy to predict. It’s not rocket science. Same for vice mayor. It’s the District 1 representative competition that may require rocket-science calculations for the bribes, er, did I just write bribes, er, why am I writing about bribes, er, why do bribes need calculations, er, the Cagayanon was even willing to transfer to a particular District 1 barangay for the bribes.
And please don’t be a cry baby if you lose. Consider this column as a warning on how teammates can suddenly leave your side, leaving you alone in the wilderness.
Talk of wild, “The Wild Robot” is currently showing at theaters near you. It’s about a robot who suddenly finds herself alone in the wilderness until she meets the inhabitants of that wilderness. Since she’s a genius—unlike some Pinoy politicians—she’s now able to understand animal language and starts communicating with the gosling, fox, opossum, falcon, and all the other animals living in the island.
To avoid spoiler alerts, here’s the movie’s short summary: it’s about letting go. Much like how CDO politicians are letting go of their former political colors by forming coalitions and alliances with anyone who cares to accept their invite. RSVP, anyone?
