By Boy Guingguing, Sunday Post
Elections are all about hostility not unity
Forget about unity. Think about hostility. That's elections are all about.
Why should our candidates foist on the electorate the merits of unity when
elections should have meant voters are given the freedom to choose.
First of all, elections are taken to mean the collision of hostile forces. For if political exercises are meant to be a choice between two friendly forces we might as well abdicate our right of suffrage to our so-called leaders who have the temerity of dictating our choices.
In elections past, we had seen how leaders dictated the tempo of elections by herding candidates under one party.
The coming one promises to end all the scandalous machinations of the powers-that-be to foster unification.
What use to be the order of the day of elections past became clearer to the common man that indeed the 2010 electoral combat is one that promises the electorate the right of a lifetime on the basis of his own free will.
If the exhilarating scenario of a do-or-die confrontation in the second district congressional derby, then it mirrors what is going to happen in other contests in another congressional fight like the first district. Never mind the third district, it was to the good fortune of Arthur Yap that he will run unopposed after his supposed opponent backed out at the last minute.
The showdown between Cong. Edgar Chatto and V-Gov. Julius Herrera for governor is another heart stopping spectacle that pit two formidable opponents. Although third running Cesar Montano is not to be discounted because he may pull a pleasant surprise like a come from behind victory.
The duel between Gov Erico Aumentado and Trinidad Mayor Judith Cajes is the most awaited contest after protagonists are loaded financially or otherwise.
On the surface, Mayor Cajes is an underdog considering her track record is only confined in the small town of Trinidad but she is no pushover knowing that her principal backer is her husband who happens to be a three-term congressman.
Besides, it was widely believed that while Amentado has President Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo as his fairy god mother, Cajes is also reported to be the faired girl of the First Gentleman. Remember when Cong. Cajes was the chair of the Congress Ethics Committee where he absolved the FG of having a bank account in Germany? What went with it is the Filipino trait of utang na loob, and the FG definitely, has lots of it.
If the second district tussle is some sort of a proxy war between two powerful political figures, then nobody can tell who is who on top of the situation.
The first district congressional battle is another thriller in the making.
With Oscar Glovasa enjoying the backing of City Mayor Dan Neri Lim there's no telling that Rene Relampagos will consider his congressional bid a walk in the park.
Knowing Dan Lim, he is not the kind who runs away from a good fight.
Relampagos is also a hard nut to crack. A veteran of several elections even at a young age, Relampagos knows the nuances of winning and losing elections. But what seems to be a fly on his ointment is his "wandering Jew tag". For all his good intentions to serve the district that he rightfully belongs, what has become a political albatross on his part was when he engaged in forum shopping as in this case of his transfer to a new district after being repudiated in his last Congress bid in the third district.
Whether it will become a hot issue in the coming polls remains to be seen but it will surely crop up like a sore thumb in the coming elections that may affect his successful Congress bid.
In the meantime, with all the matches in the provincial and congressional derbies vying for the voters' attention, what is there to expect is a once in a lifetime experience for voters that they are not confronted with friendly pairings but cases of immovable objects meeting irresistible forces. That's the kind of elections the people have been longing for and what a way to enjoy them.