Local battle lines shaping May national polls

(First of three parts)

During a campaign rally on Feb. 11, Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla promised to deliver more than 800,000 votes from his province to UniTeam’s presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

But immediately after his bold declaration of support for the deposed dictator’s son and namesake, whom he addressed as “Mr. President,” Remulla was swiftly rebuked with messages on social media saying that Caviteños would reject his choice.

So, on Friday, thousands of Cavite voters welcomed Marcos’ chief rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, to show a member of one of the most dominant clans in provincial politics that they meant what they said.

With more than 2.3 million registered voters, Cavite is a major electoral battleground being the country’s second most vote-rich province after Cebu (which has more than 3.2 million, including the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu).

‘Symbiotic’

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, the leader of the homegrown One Cebu party, herself has yet to announce her own choice of successor to President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Allow me to stay in the middle for the time being,” she said.

All presidential candidates are being considered and that members of One Cebu needed to make sure they would have a unified position, Garcia said.

It is a different case in Pangasinan, the country’s third vote-rich province with over 2 million voters. Both the rival candidates for governor, reelectionist Amado Espino III and Ramon Guico III, back Marcos.

As presidential aspirants try to win support from political leaders, how much influence do local politicians’ endorsements have on ordinary voters? Can they really carry a presidential candidate all the way to Malacañang?

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the relationship between the country’s local and national candidates during and long after the elections was “symbiotic.”

“All politics is local because it’s the local officials, especially the incumbents, who work on the ground to deliver votes for a national candidate, like the president. But they will not do it without getting something in return, that’s the nature of patronage politics,” he said.

A lot of money exchange hands during the election season and this is the reason an elective post has become a very expensive prize, Zarate said.

“It’s the reality of elections in the Philippines: moneyed groups have all the resources to the disadvantage of other candidates, who lack those resources,” he said.

Pampanga in play

Zarate said the situation was making it very difficult for ordinary people, a labor leader for instance, to win an election. “It’s a sad nature of the country’s politics,” he said.

In Pampanga, Gov. Dennis Pineda declared on Dec. 22, 2021, that all national candidates were welcome to campaign in the province and asked his constituents to “not disrespect” any of them.

On Feb. 21, Marcos and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, joined in the birthday celebration of the governor’s mother, Vice Gov. Lilia Pineda.

Before this, they were reportedly among the guests at two private parties held by the Pineda family.

The Pinedas, however, have not officially endorsed Marcos and Duterte.

On March 2, Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, had a private dinner with the governor.

Back in November, Robredo’s running mate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, paid a courtesy call on the governor before proceeding to a farming village.

Robredo had also visited Pampanga several times, mostly the cities of San Fernando and Angeles, but did not meet with the Pinedas.

In previous polls, no national candidate had ignored the Pinedas of Pampanga, which has 1.2 million voters.

Their followers include beneficiaries of their businesses and charity projects.

About 90 percent of Pampanga’s incumbent mayors and vice mayors are members of their local party Kambilan.

Solid? Or silent no more?

In Ilocos Sur province, political kingpin Luis “Chavit” Singson joined the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the political party chaired by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, ahead of the 2022 polls.

That move was seen as a way to consolidate the votes in the north for the anticipated presidential run by Sotto, who ultimately decided to be the running mate of Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

But Singson, who still wields political power as the “godfather” of Ilocos Sur, is now constantly seen with Marcos at rallies.

The mayor of Narvacan town and national president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, had boasted that at least 1,200 of the 1,480 town mayors around the country would support Marcos and Duterte.

“I just follow the majority, and the majority of them are supporting [Marcos],” Singson told reporters on Wednesday.

A silent movement, one that locals had not seen in previous national elections, is threatening to create a crack in the so-called Solid North and first emerged in his province.

‘Safe place’

Caravans decked in pink to show support for Robredo and Pangilinan and their Tropang Angat Senate slate made their way along the famed Calle Crisologo in Vigan, the provincial capital on Feb. 8, when a volunteer center was also established in the province as a “safe place” and a way to encourage other supporters of the vice president “to break the silence.”

In November last year, the Robredo-Pangilinan supporters gave away pink-colored “empanadas,” a popular Ilocano delicacy, usually orange in color.

On Feb. 25, the 36th anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, Robredo’s supporters opened a volunteer center in Marcos’ home province of Ilocos Norte and also distributed pink empanadas.

The center is just a stone’s throw away from the provincial capitol where his nephew, Matthew Marcos Manotoc, holds office as governor.

Not surprisingly, Marcos beat Robredo for vice president in his turf by a landslide in 2016—298,786 votes to 3,704. He won in all provinces in the Ilocos region and the rest of northern Luzon, except Batanes.

Rise of volunteerism

Tomasito Talledo, who teaches political science and sociology at the University of the Philippines Visayas, said the 2022 election campaign is “so unlike before with the burgeoning movement of volunteerism in support of [the Robredo-Pangilinan team].”

“The phenomenal voluntarism upsets the from-top-to-bottom flow of communication, initiatives and material support in the 2022 elections,” Talledo said.

Clemelle Montallana, a columnist for a community paper in Tacloban City and a professor at the Leyte Normal University, said an endorsement does not necessarily work favorably for the candidate being endorsed.

“In most cases, endorsements are ‘affirmation’ and a statement of trust. If the endorser is credible, it really raises their chances. Otherwise, such endorsement may do more harm than good,” Montallana said.

—REPORTS FROM TONETTE OREJAS, JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS, JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT, CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE, ADOR VINCENT MAYOL, NESTOR BURGOS JR., JOEY GABIETA, LEO UDTOHAN AND GERMELINA LACORTE

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