BEFORE the May 12 mid-term election, banks were running out of 50- and 20-peso bills. Ulan-ulan, anyone?
A few days later, I saw a 100-peso bill with two barely visible holes. Staple wire, anyone?
And then on June 5, Cagayan de Oro’s barangay captains ousted their ABC vice president. Was that the result of the ulan-ulan from all possible sources?
Now, the real ulan-ulan is here, with the rainy season bringing flash floods to CDO on Tuesday last week.
If the former ABC vice president’s barangay were flooded, too, that would have been hitting one bird with two stones. Ouch.
Oh. Does the alphabet have a vice president now? Ah, nope. ABC is the Association of Barangay Captains.
The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will be on December 1, 2025, that is, if it will push through. Let’s see whom the ABC will oust then, that is if the barangay captains will still be allowed to oust anyone.
Oust is always an ouch to the ousted especially after he expected to occupy the ABC’s top post now that the current top guy has leveled up to the more assured position of being an elected city councilor. Elected by a whole district of Cagayanon voters and not only by CDO’s barangay captains. There’s a huge difference there when it comes to numbers: the district has more than 200,000 registered voters; ABC has 80 barangay captains.
If you’re not sure of attracting votes from a district, be a barangay captain and ABC president if you want to be a city councilor.
The May 12 mid-term election losers will still have a chance to win in the barangay and SK elections. Which can be a good start for those who want to rise from the ranks.
For those who don’t want to rise from the ranks, they have to be the spouse, sibling, child, or grandchild of an incumbent politician. If they’re not in that position yet, they can join showbiz first and be a celebrity there. Or have a popular business where they can be the ad mowdel. Or be an org president who will justify their weekly media exposure through the organization’s projects and activities.
There are so many ways to rise from political ranks without actually rising from political ranks. Have the rising in other industries instead, and then jump into the crazy world of politics. Operative word: crazy. You’ve been warned.
Political parties do invite business owners to run under their team but the wise business owner will always wonder if he’s being invited because he can provide additional campaign funds or because he can attract more votes for the team or both, and what will he receive as a token for his generosity? A political party can always drop him if he loses, and he won’t even be able to collect the 5/6 loans he granted to his fellow candidates.
But if he jumps into the political fray without any reservation whatsoever, then it’s “Because I’m happy/Clap along, if you know what happiness is to you.” Ah, hehe.
