Jun Ledesma IT is now a reality and in the national political consciousness that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is emerging to be the most viable presidential candidate. The loose-tongued Gov. Joey Salceda had said that Duterte will be a “sure winner” in a four-cornered fight. But that is Salceda, the economic adviser of the then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who can call her names without batting an eyelash. Salceda can be very straightforward, transparent and can be inspiring but also irritating.  He is “liberal” minded and cannot keep his preference secret. Across the country, not a few political leaders have shown their respect and adulation for Duterte. Not a few behave like Salceda, others however have kept mum. Many are just waiting in the bend for Duterte to announce his candidacy and then rush on the ringside to be counted in. This is the very reason why despite the declaration by President Aquino that DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, his anointed candidate, we see the reluctance of LPs to be seen on the scene when the former anointed him as his preferred bet. They have to stage another meeting to gather a crowd to make an impression that the party has finally found a winnable candidate. But it’s obviously far from it. They have to relentlessly woo Sen. Grace Poe to be the running mate of Roxas. But Poe has her own agenda and despite her citizenship issue which is being used to “persuade” her to accept the offer, Poe gave the president’s messenger a direct retort: “Why don’t you ask your candidate to slide down (to vice president)?” Binay who bared his agenda to run for President from Day One was, of course, the most popular. The next presidential derby was virtually six years away when he made the declaration and nobody bothered to wake him up in is stupor. But as the election fever starts to simmer, VP JojoBinay gets the heat first. And because he has some skeletons to hide, his closest associates who were scorned come to the fore with jack and hammer and open the closet to bare these to the public. His political enemies feasted on  it and because the skeletal remains turned out to be so enormous Binay’s malefactors have not stopped digging for more, never mind if the stink has reached Aparri and down to Sulu. Mired in corruption issues, Binay is now being avoided like plague. Roxas is trying vainly to improve his image with a deluge of television ad. But nothing helps so maybe Poe is correct. Duterte, of course, is not immune from muckraking paid demolition crew. In fact, they have tried everything among these a human rights violator and womanizer. But none of these sticks the way corruption and ineptness of Binay and Roxas stained their image like dye in the wool. In fact, Duterte himself bared these. His marriage has been annulled and that he has three women. He told amused journalists that if he becomes President he will never be convicted of corruption but... maybe multiple murder. The one thing that makes Duterte distinct from the rest is that he need not go to the trouble of marketing himself or make a claim on national TV that he is this or that. International media among them Time Magazine and Asia Week declared he is a “punisher” and international rating firms attest that Davao City is among the safest place on earth. Domestic media never ever ceased publishing how he succeeded in eliminating syndicated crime in Davao, how he successfully enforced the anti-smoking ban, firecracker ban, speed limits and what have you. The facts argue loudly for Duterte. What may intrigue  his enemies is his unexplained poverty. Well, he is not actually that poor, but compared to his peers who wallow in ill-gotten wealth, Duterte can indeed be dirt poor. But who cares about that? – Jun Ledesma, Davao City