WITH less than a year left before the country troops to the polls to elect a new set of national and local officials, things have certainly started to heat up and become interesting as politicos preen and prance to be noticed by the electorate and the self-styled power brokers and king makers.
It isn’t just the presidency and the vice presidency on the line next May. We will also need to elect 12 senators, 308 members of congress, 81 sets of governors and vice governors and 780 provincial board members, 1,634 sets of mayors and vice mayors and 13,546 city and municipal councilors all over the country. (source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Philippine_presidential_election).
No wonder election fever is thick in the air! Just in the past week, we’ve seen PDP-Laban on the verge of a schism with the party presidency of Manny Pacquiao suddenly on shaky ground with the surprise endorsement of party members of Digong as their 2022 Vice Presidential candidate, Bongbong and Gibo made a beeline for Davao to present themselves to Sara as possible vice presidential candidates too, the palace announces their choices for VP Digong’s presidential running mate, all while a new power crisis is threatening Luzon while typhoon Dante hits the country to make the start of the rainy season. Oh and we’re all still dealing with a raging epidemic and the biggest vaccination drive in human history. Whew!
Since we all could use a little bit of a breather from all the challenges around us, I’ve put together a tongue-in-cheek list of tandems, team-ups, unholy alliances and unlikely pairings as a fun fearless prediction of what it will all look like and who is left standing after the wheeling and dealing is done for the 2022 elections. Ready? Let’s begin.
Gordon and Cayetano will find comfort in each other’s arms as loquacious ambitious politicians who have long cast wet eyes on the presidency. After all, between both of them, no one will be able to get a word in as they can talk above, below, between and around anyone. No one will be listening either, but that doesn’t seem to matter with Philippine politicians anyway. Cayetano agrees to slide down to run for vice-president after Dick blows his top yet again after which Cayetano was seen to mutter quietly to himself “takot ako!”
Emboldened by the Duterte-Duterte tandem and finding no other willing partners, siblings Bongbong and Imee join in the fray and launch their own Marcos-Marcos tandem. Their sole motivation is to use their political power to prevent their beloved mother from being shackled and incarcerated despite her 2018 graft conviction by the Sandiganbayan. Their campaign jingle “Unchained Melody” borrows from the Righteous Brothers’ well-loved hit. On the campaign trail, Bongbong claims that they will be on the offensive as they can out debate anyone. Imee is confident that they will be good on defense too as they can parry old accusations well and can take any hits right on the chin.
Ping Lacson finally decides that the time is right for him to pursue the presidency. Emboldened by the strong man antics that won Duterte the presidency and inspired by the success of ex-military men in the Duterte administration, Ping decides that the best way to capitalize is to choose another ex-military man as his running mate, former senator Rodolfo “Pong” Biazon. The “Ping-Pong” tandem will be formidable as they promise to chop corruption in half, they promise to work together and not flip on each other with backhand manoeuvres. They vow to serve the people with integrity and vow that they will have no rackets. Game, set and match made in heaven!
Speaking of political comebacks, Juan Ponce Enrile makes another run for the presidency in 2022. Strengthened by stem cell therapy, ivermectin, and the blood of martial law victims, he teams up with former Senator Sonny Jaworski to form team “Never Say Die!”
Scorned by PDP-Laban, Pacquiao is adopted by the Nacionalista Party and soon the Pacquiao-Villar tandem is born. They adopt the campaign jingle “Manny Manny” after the Tommy James and the Shondells (or Billy Idol) hit sung by Cynthia and Nanay Dionisia of course with a rousing psychedelic sixties inspired campaign music video. Formidable team with the formidable north-south alliance of political fiefdoms from Las Piñas to the piñas of Southern Mindanao!
Only a few months into enjoying his retirement, Debold Sinas decides to throw his hat into the political ring by putting up a new political party called “Ang Federacion” where he is immediately joined by Harry Roque and Joey Salceda. They excitedly plan out the debut of their political party where they reveal their core principles and beliefs which they eloquently express in elegant writing in a document they call the 18 Proses.
