NOTES

9 November 1997

Did Secretary Habito actually claim he heard God’s voice telling him to run for president? It’s hard to believe that he did. (Even Lucio de Gala, despite his apparent nuttiness, has vehemently denied any divine urging in his decision to run for president. As he said in a Daily Inquirer interview, “Baka sabihin nila sira ako katulad ni Pimentel.”) Perhaps Habito’s claim was calculated to appeal to the religiosity of many Filipinos. If so, does he actually think he can win? Again, it’s hard to believe that he does. I hope he is rational enough to know that his chance of winning the presidency is as good as a snowball’s chance in hell. It makes more sense if he is joining the Lakas presidential derby only as a prelude to a more realistic bid for the Senate. Paying one million pesos (the contribution each aspirant had to make to participate in the selection process) to gain a head start in the senate race may be worth it. But then again, perhaps he really thought he heard God’s voice. If so, his God and that of Pimentel are not one and the same.

Joe De Venecia should be credited for being very patient with the FVR process of selecting the official Lakas candidate. At the back of his mind, he probably realizes that FVR privately favors Rene De Villa over him.

As Speaker of the House (read: pork barrel chief), De Venecia has sway over party leaders: 160 out of 220 congressmen, 40 of 57 Lakas governors, 35 of 51 city mayors, 810 of 1,150 Lakas mayors, and 20 of 21 sectoral representatives. If the party nomination involves an open ballot process, he will be the administration candidate. FVR and the pro-De Villa clique within the administration (Torres et al.) obviously know that, so they insisted on not publicly counting the convention votes and announcing the results. FVR is now supposed to privately study the results of the “democratic” process and--after another similar convention on Sunday--announce his decision.

De Venecia is clearly being taken for a ride, but he cannot be faulted for desperately clinging to the hope that he will be endorsed. He doesn’t have much choice. Without the Lakas/administration machinery, his candidacy is as good as dead. Unfortunately for him, all the De Villa camp really needs to accomplish now is to show some political muscle. The haste to get the open endorsements of cabinet members was clearly an attempt to achieve that. A decent showing in the second convention will further clinch De Villa’s nomination. A semblance of a toss-up--that’s all FVR needs to make his decision politically acceptable.

The next question then is, What will De Venecia do if the administration throws its support behind De Villa? There is a highly hyped “covenant” that losers will support the official candidate, but how binding is the agreement? First, all the aspirants assume fair play. With reports that envelopes were distributed (again!) and the lack of transparency in the assessment of survey results, De Venecia can easily cry foul. Second, FVR is not in the position to exhort aspirants not to renege because he himself broke his covenant with Mitra in 1992. De Venecia may thus pursue his own presidential ambition even without FVR’s endorsement. Unfortunately, he will be wasting his time and money--unless he thinks it’s worth the ego-trip.

It obviously requires a sense of good-natured sarcasm to find humor and delight in the candidacy of Lucio De Gala. I watched his interview on SNN and, as soon as he displayed a good handle on some general economic issues, he started talking about his Ph.D. in Leaderology (whatever that is) and his plan on making Imelda Marcos his Vice President. He also intends to implement just a few key government programs and then leave office even before his term ends. How noble can one get? Absolutely no lust for power, just plain and simple passion to leave a legacy to the Filipino nation. Obviously egged by his indulgent buddies in the 365 Club (look at what you’ve done, Senator Enrile), he hopes to generate 10 million votes. Where will he get the 10 million? If Marcos had Ilocandia, De Gala will draw his political strength from Cuckoo-landia. Check out the Unofficial Lucio De Gala for President Movement Web Site.

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