YELLOW was the opposition’s preferred political color since 1983 when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. But former Vice President Leni Robredo chose pink for her presidential campaign in 2022.
I wrote about this in previous columns, that VP Leni’s yellow versus BBM’s red would have been the perfect opposites. Since pink is the weaker version of red, it weakened Robredo’s campaign.
Now, Robredo is running for Naga City mayor, the position that her husband, the late Jesse Robredo, used to occupy, for which he served for six terms.
After he died in a plane crash, Leni began to travel around the country, prompting the Pinoy to wonder if she was going to run for office. In an interview I did with her here in Cagayan de Oro, I asked her that question, if she was running, and she vehemently said no. Hmmm. Those were the days. But she’s a politician’s wife, and I guess it’s safe for the Pinoy to conclude that she learned from a political expert. After all, her husband was city mayor for six terms.
Politics in Pinas is a game. In CDO, for example, the opposition seemed to have a difficult time looking for a vice mayoral candidate. A PBBM close relative could have ended up eventually occupying that throne at city hall had he said yes to the mayoral candidate’s invite.
Another choice for the opposition’s vice mayor: the close relative of the incumbent Misamis Oriental District 2 representative but the latter reportedly said she’s too young to be vice mayor, so, she’s running for reelection as city councilor. The congressman and his close relative have been violet since forever. As for the mayoral candidate’s color, I think he’s back to yellow. In the 2022 election, he was green.
This partnership between the yellow mayoral candidate and the violet team was unthinkable in 2022, 2019, 2016, and 2013. I’m not sure about their relationship status in the election years before 2013.
I mean, does the Cagayanon still remember what these two teams used to accuse each other of? Here’s one. CDO had a violet mayor in 2011 when Sendong happened. The violet mayor’s alleged mishandling of the environment and his Sendong response became the major factor for the opposition’s mayoral candidate to win in 2013. He was able to stay as mayor, serving the full three terms until 2022 when he decided to try his luck again in Misamis Oriental where his political career began. But he failed in that bid. And here he is now, trying to make a major comeback in CDO as the opposition’s mayoral candidate again for 2025.
He may have a lot of explaining to do for his current team that obviously includes the violets. Had he and the Misamis Oriental District 2 representative ended up as candidates for mayor and vice mayor, respectively, that would have been one of the strongest partnerships ever.
Expectation for who’s who in the CDO mayoral race: incumbent mayor, incumbent District 2 representative, current opposition mayoral candidate, Misamis Oriental District 2 representative, and PBBM close relative. The first thing that came to mind: the debates. Wow. That would have been a feast.
Versus reality: incumbent mayor, and current opposition mayoral candidate. Eh di wow.
