Before the circus

Rep. Rachel Marguerite del Mar of Cebu City’s north district showed astuteness in declining to comment about any contender for her seat until the October deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy passes.

Incumbents ideally leave their possible electoral rivals to their own devices as they prepare to run for office.

Talk of poll politics outside the official campaign period should always be seen as a distraction to those who sit in office.

Del Mar needs to focus on seeing through to enactment into law the 35 bills that she sponsored or authored at the Lower House.

(Which leads us to urge Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district to do more to fill the space in Congress’ Legislative Information System for bills that he crafted.

The database shows that the former mayor so far authored or sponsored only five pieces of legislation.)

That said, celebrity manager Annabelle Rama, who manifested her interest to try to wrest Del Mar’s seat from her next year has a lot of work to do; quietly, if possible.

Annabelle’s relatives in the Rama political clan are banking on her popularity (which some call notoriety on account of her well-documented sharp tongue and short fuse), to fuel her future candidacy.

Team Rama, however, would be wise to avoid in due time running Annabelle’s campaign solely on star power or name recognition.

Del Mar had no birthright to the north district though her father Raul led it for years.

Conversely, voters do not owe Annabelle election into the House of Representatives just because she is a celebrity mom and honcho and a descendant of the revered Don Vicente Rama.

Annabelle and any first-timer in politics need to possess solid leadership credentials. They should be familiar with the circumstances and needs of their possible constituents to ably represent them.

They should bear this in mind: In the Information Age, more and more voters long to find beyond old names and showbiz personas servants who can be trusted to map out their future.