Duterte legacy to factor in Inday Sara 2010 mayoral bid

By ROGER M. BALANZA 

            Dabawenyos do not easily forget good deeds, and this in-born trait would deeply matter when they go to the polls in May to elect a new mayor.

            Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his more than 20 years of serving Dabawenyos will factor much when Vice Mayor Sara Duterte attempts to fill the void to be left vacant by his father.

            Sara is emerging as another strong-willed individual, decisive and ready to stand by her principles—the very attributes that endeared Mayor Duterte to Dabawenyos.

            When Dabawenyos choose a new leader in 2010, the city’s recent history is expected to factor much in their choice, and the Duterte legacy would be hard to forget with the lasting imprint it had played to change the course of Davao City’s history.

            After being appointed vice mayor in the post-EDSA Aquino provisional government following the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship, Duterte trounced then interim mayor Zafiro Respicio in the 1988 elections, to manage a city that like the rest of the country was limping from the just-ended Marcos tyranny and the bloody left-over of a ten-year communist urban occupancy.

            Duterte came to City Hall with the city in deep financial straits, an economy emaciated by capital flight that sought safer grounds to escape extortion by communist rebels, the communist Sparrow Unit on a killing spree, rampant criminality and a nervous citizenry yearning for a leader willing to clear the ugly rubbles left by the Marcos dictatorship and the insurgents that left hundreds of deaths in gruesome summary executions of police and military personnel and civilians.

            Early on, Duterte saw peace and order as the determining factor that could bring back confidence in the city.

 THE DUTERTE DOCTRINE

            With a bankrupt economy, Duterte started his reign with the city’s latest annual revenue pegged at a measly P180 million, its march to progress cut off in late 70s by the dictatorship and the communist insurgency just as it was positioning itself as a premier city in Southern Mindanao.

            Parlaying his close relations with the New People’s Army and the militant left-leaning community that he established while a city prosecutor before joining politics, Duterte made peace with the rebels and spared the city from the brutality and extortion that marked the years prior to his capture of City Hall.

            The ominous events that sent strong signals to criminals that their days are numbered under the Duterte Doctrine were bloody and messy: massive slaughter of members of organized kidnap-and-extortion groups.

Duterte’s iron-fisted peace and order campaign—despite being maligned by human rights groups—is now enshrined as a key factor not only by the business community but the citizenry in the development of the city and in insuring investors that the city had shed off its past history of blood and mayhem and extortion by insurgents and rampant criminality.

            While he treated petty crimes, drug use and peddling, youth hooliganism and thievery with more than the necessary methods that raised a howl from human rights groups, the Duterte strong-fisted formula indeed sent a message that he was serious about the business of cleansing the city of criminal elements, petty or satanic.

            Kidnappers and drug lords in the book of Duterte are a special breed that have no place in the city and deserved no less than quick justice, exemplified by the slaughter of 9 Taiwanese nationals running a drug laboratory at the outskirts of the city seven years ago.

            The gun speaking for the oppressed to hunt down criminals may be too much for the bleeding hearts, but it brought back the city to its feet, with people confident of being protected and the business community admitting the iron-fisted Duterte Doctrine is the formula that carved out a new direction of peace and order for the city.

QUANTUM LEAP

            Today, Davao City after more than 20 years of the Duterte leadership is third among cities in the country with the biggest annual revenue that now stands at more than P3 billion. It has garnered almost all awards given out by the national government to LGUs, and made its mark in the world of investors and tourists when chosen by Asia Magazine as one of the Most Livable City in Asia.

            The Davao City Government also has become a model for community participation in local governance, with Duterte giving voice to almost all sectors in decision making through deputies from the Muslim and tribal communities, religious, academe, environmentalist groups, the urban poor and other groups sitting in various local special bodies at his beak and call for consultations when crucial decisions are to be made.

            He has solidified the local political landscape, bringing under the wings of his Hugpong sa Dabaw bloc almost the entire political community, leading to a unity that contributed much to hastened political and fiscal decisions that had the executive and legislative departments speaking a single voice in a common direction towards progress and development.

THE DUTERTE LEGACY

            The Duterte legacy should start with the late Governor Vicente Duterte of the then undivided Davao and Mrs. Soledad Duterte, whose brand of public service forms part of Davao City’s colourful history. Gov. Duterte was among early Dabawenyos credited with having taken national positions having been named as Public

Works Secretary, while Mrs. Duterte, a teacher, was a strong influence before her retirement in education having been the superintendent of the Davao Province public school system.   

            But for present-day Dabawenyos, Duterte is the overwhelming factor in recent history with his more than 20 years as a public official.

            His record-breaking feat at the service of the people has already surpassed by years those of local political legends Mayor Luis Santos (14 years) and Mayor Carmelo Porras (11 years): 2 years as Vice Mayor (1986-1988); 10 years as Mayor (1988-1998); three years as Congressman (1998-2001); and nine years ending in 2010 as Mayor (2001 to 2010); or a total of 24 long years.

 SARA DUTERTE 

Duterte has made no bones about Sara or son Paolo, now a city councilor representing the barangay captains, following in his footsteps. He has slammed accusation about a political dynasty in the offing, saying local politics needed new blood and that Sara and Paolo had to prove they are worth the trust and confidence of the people.

For now Sara, a lawyer, appears to be the next Duterte to sit at City Hall, with the well-entrenched Duterte political machinery ensuring the votes for her.

IT’S IN THE GENES

            For Dabawenyos comfortable with the iron-fisted Duterte Doctrine, choosing a new mayor in 2010 would boil down to among others the crucial question of whether Sara could measure up to her father.

            Already Sara has shown that brand of decisiveness and strong-willed attitude that has become the hallmark of the Duterte administration. While a neophyte, she has, like her father menacingly wielding his dried cow’s tail to send a signal to youth hooligans to behave, transformed the once fractious members of the Davao City Council, which she presides, into one meek cohesive lot.

            She had made serious decisions while sitting as acting Mayor—some in harsh collision with Duterte’s previous pronouncements—further reinforcing public confidence she could carry on the flag if she makes it to City Hall in 2010.

            Observers though say there is no need to debate whether Sara has the balls to be another Rodrigo Duterte. After all she has running in her veins the deadly combination of the volatile Cebuano blood of her father and the equally volatile German blood of her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman Duterte.

            The same observers also stress that Dabawenyos do not forget good deeds, and the Duterte legacy would matter much when Sara presents herself as the city’s new leader to Dabawenyos, who would not trust City Hall to be run by wannabes that hardly mattered in their lives the past 20 years.

THE DURIAN POST out Monday

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Davao City surveys give Sara Duterte a wide lead

Sara gets a fat 70%,

Nogie an anemic 30%

By ROGER M. BALANZA

In a vicious and painful cycle of mayoral defeats, Congressman Prospero Nograles is a certified loser come May in his battle with Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, based on pre-poll surveys showing him getting a measly 20 to 30 percent.

GOODBYE POLITICS. With Inday Sasa ahead by a mile, Congressman Prospero Nograles waves to fans in an ominous gesture that he could be bidding politics after the May elections.

 Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s local bloc, said it was not surprised by Vice Mayor Duterte’s fat 70 percent ratings against Nograles’ anemic showing in the people’s top choice for city mayor.

History of defeats

            Recent political history of Davao City tells it all. Nograles, as a certified loser, could never go beyond 30 percent. He was beaten by Mayor Duterte in 1992 with the second biggest vote margin in that election throughout the country, with the mayor raking in 70 percent of the votes, Hugpong said.

HANDWAVE OF VICTORY. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte visits barangay to woo support for Inday Sara even as he is expected to deal Congressman Nograles his third debacle in the mayoral race, with Nograles poorly taking 30% of votes in surveys.

            Hugpong added that in the 1998 elections in Nograles’ second attempt to take City Hall against then Vice Mayor Benjamin de Guzman, Mayor Duterte lured about the same number of votes for his political ally and protégé now turned bitter foe, according to Hugpong in a statement released to The Durian Post.

DOUBLE TRAGEDY IN MAY. With Congressman Nograles losing consistently in surveys against Vice Mayor Sara Duterte and son Karlo neck-to-neck with Councilor Mabel Acosta in the First District congressional race, Nogie and Karlo could end up dumped in the dustbin of political history when votes are counted in May.

De Guzman was Mayor Duterte’s city administrator whom he shaped into a winning vice mayor in 1995. He trounced Nograles in 1998 mainly through the help of Mayor Duterte.

He faced-off in a losing reelection against come-backing Mayor Duterte in 2001 and got clobbered again by Duterte in 2004. De Guzman, whose political career was guided by Mayor Duterte, is now facing the mayor in May as Nograles’ running mate.

            History repeats itself. After May Nograles, as a certified loser, will go down in the book of politics in Davao City as the pitiful politician miserably defeated in a vicious and painful cycle of defeats, said Hugpong.

Anemic Nogie votes

            While Nograles suffers anemia in the pre-poll surveys, Vice Mayor Duterte has consistently zoomed up especially in a survey of students in one of the leading universities.

            In mock polls by the University of Mindanao Student Government in the UM Matina and Bolton campuses conducted January 22-25, 2010, Vice Mayor Duterte gathered 75.9 % against Nograles’ 13.4% of votes in pooling with 2,590 students.

The figures were affirmed in a separate poll with 2,954 listeners from the city’s three districts by the University of Mindanao Broadcasting Network (UMBN) Pulso ng Bayan survey, which gave Vice Mayor Duterte 65.9 percent and Nograles 16.9 percent.

The independence of the survey validated by the fact that UM and UMBN are owned by Willy Torres, a close friend of Nograles.

EASY RIDE TO CITY HALL. With opponent Congressman Nograles eating dust in surveys, Inday Sara is on an easy ride to victory in the coming May polls.

In the vice mayoral race, both surveys also had Mayor Duterte leading in a yawning gaps against de Guzman: 68.3% vs. 13.7% in the UMBN survey, and 68.4 percent vs. 6 percent in the UM campus survey.

An earlier survey by Pulso Dabaw had the same results, as well as separate pooling by other independent survey outfits.

Sara, Rody win affirmed

Hugpong said it would keep in public view the results of its own survey avoiding accusation of the results being self-serving, but on the side an official of the Duterte bloc said results of the independent surveys jibed with Hugpong’s regular surveys conducted since November.

Our men are now asking that we stop the field work of asking voters about their choice, the results in all the surveys being a monotonous 70 percent for Vice Mayor Sara and Mayor Rody against Nograles and de Guzman’s anemic 20 to 30 percent, said the Hugpong officer asking anonymity having no authority to speak about the matter.

The Lakas/Kampi/CMD of Nograles has shied away local survey outfits amid the flood of support for the Dutertes, and has hired a Manila-based public relations outfit to conduct a survey that showed Nograles leading Vice Mayor Duterte and Mayor Duterte ahead of Benjamin by a few points in a bid to cushion the impact of the local survey results.

Twisting the facts

Widely publicized by the Nograles Media Bureau, the alleged survey of 1,200 respondents conducted on December 10-11, 2010 by The Issues and Advocacy Center or the Center headed by media practitioner Ed Malay had Nograles leading with  540 (45%) against Vice Mayor Duterte’s 528 (44%); Mayor Duterte ahead with 588 (49%) vs. de Guzman’s 456 (38%).

Dabawenyos and local media here conducting independent surveys are unbelieving at the Center figures given the yawning disparity with their own results.

Hugpong said while it was not surprised that local surveys have the Dutertes way ahead of Nograles and de Guzman, it is elated that the Center has come out with a bloated figure.

This only shows how frantic is Nograles to twist figures to boost his stock despite overwhelming survey and ground-level support for Inday Sara and Rody, said the Hugpong officer. RMB

Nograles’ poll survey firm discredited

The Nogie center of ‘deceit’

Malay survey a ‘sick joke’

 

Who would you believe: surveys by local independent outfits who know the heart and soul of the Dabawenyos or that of a Manila-based public relations firm who could not possibly know where Barrio Patay is?

            Remember the controversial Ronald Zamora-commissioned survey by a well-known outfit that showed his presidential bet NP’s Manny Villar eating a sizable portion of LP’s Noynoy Aquino lead?

            If that Villar survey was “self-serving” then we have a local version of it in the survey by the Manila-based The Issues and Advocacy Center also known as THE CENTER of PR handler Ed Malay commissioned by Speaker Prospero Nograles that showed his lead in the mayoral race against Vice Mayor Sara Duterte. (See related story on this page}

            The Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod ruling local party said the Malay survey is a “sick joke foisted on the intelligence of Dabawenyos who overwhelmingly chose Sara Duterte in several surveys.”

            “The survey is as unbelievable as Nograles’ wild dream that he is going to be mayor in May,” said Hugpong which is headed by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

            A collation of local surveys here has Vice Mayor Duterte miserably thrashing Nograles with 70 percentiles, and Mayor Duterte clobbering opponent Benjamin de Guzman with the same fatal figure.  The CENTER’s survey is a shocker in reverse: Nograles, 45%, Vice Mayor Duterte, 44%; Mayor Duterte, 49%, De Guzman, 38%. Would you believe that?

            But let us look at the players in this cabal of deception.

            Who is Ed Malay? He is a media practitioner who went into public relations and made his name mainly by handling politicians. His widely-publicized credential includes a short stint as media handler of former President Fidel Ramos. He is known to have clients members of the House of Representatives especially Speaker Prospero Nograles.

            He is presently the spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and was widely known as the miserable failure that helped former MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando’s bid to be the Lakas/Kampi presidential bet crash in utter disaster.

            Election being a season for lucrative business for PR firms Malay is back in Congress to handle his clients, including Nograles, writing press releases and conducting surveys embedded with bloated figures to give hope to losing candidates.

            While it is good for propaganda purposes, the surveys are nothing but scraps of paper that do not reflect sentiments on the ground. Especially if there are other surveys that show in unanimity the reverse.

            What Malay and his The Center did is merely to tickle the ego of Nograles, twist facts and stem the flood of public support for Vice Mayor Duterte.

            Will it help the Speaker? No.

            But it will help voters who have already thrown their support for the vice mayor to understand how some people could play dirty politics with bloated figures using public relations firms and dubious surveys with figures suited to their end to confuse the public.

            How many Nograleses throughout the country are playing into the hands of The Center and Malay for the funds of it?

            Mind you, some PR firms could delude people like Fernando into believing that they are going to be the next president of the country. Fernando has jumped ship to abandon Lakas/Kampi/CMD and is now running mate of presidential bet Dick Gordon. If Malay is still handling the pitiful former MMDA chair, then Fernando could be today in a state of orgasm over the prospect of being the vice president after May, according to Malay and his Center.

            Malay, Nograles and The Center? Don’t believe them. That survey result is as good as toilet paper when Dabawenyos go to the polls to vote solid for Inday Sara. RMB

 

Business chamber all-out for Inday Sara

Davao City businessmen are not comfortable with Congressman Prospero Nograles becoming mayor likening his win to changing horses in the middle of a tightly fought racetrack race.

BUSINESSMEN’S CHOICE. Inday Sara cutting ribbons at opening of another business in Davao City.

CONSULTATIONS. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte meeting with members of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry over vital economic issues.

Davao City still needs the kind of leadership under Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. If we change him we might as well get a racing horse of the same pedigree, same speed and same intelligence, said an official of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII).

The businessman begged anonymity lest he antagonize Speaker Nograles who is running for mayor against Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of Mayor Duterte.

            The official of the business chamber grouping Davao City businessmen said Davao City had galloped to its present status of progress and development with Mayor Duterte holding the reins of the local administration.

 

Crucial election

 

            The coming elections in May for us businessmen is crucial. We have confidence all along with Mayor Duterte. Mr. Nograles has limited himself to legislation for years and had never shown even a shadow in the economic development of the city, he said, adding this sentiment is vastly dominant among members of the business chamber.

            With a business community apprehensive over a Nograles mayoralty, businessmen are tilting towards Vice Mayor Duterte to continue what his father did for the city, he said.

 

Of the same breed

 

            Vice Mayor Duterte is of the same pedigree. She is fast catching up with the leadership brand of the mayor, he said. “Also, she already has exposure in local government administration.”

            He said Davao City’s continuing march to progress needs a leader as strong-willed as Mayor Duterte, a trait found in his daughter. Basically, he said the next mayor should be able to “run as fast as Mayor Duterte” if only to sustain the progress and development of the city.

            If there is need to change horses, you don’t replace your racing horse with an ass or a donkey, would you? the chamber official joked.

            While saying he could not speak for the chamber on political issues, the official however said he is open to commenting on the business chamber giving credit for the city’s stride to progress to Mayor Duterte that started when he first took City Hall in 1988.

 

Return of confidence

 

            Mayor Duterte won the mayorship that year, the city agonized in fear and economic ruins due to capital flight avoiding communist urban guerillas in extortion and executions and organized crimes. Many businessmen here left to find safer grounds for their own skin and business.

            At the tail-end of a frenzied 10-year occupancy by urban guerillas, the Duterte administration brought back the city to its feet with an iron-fisted campaign against criminals and a back-door diplomacy with the communist rebels that tempered the violence.

            We saw then how serious Mayor Duterte was. He gave the confidence that with the local leadership and business joining hands, we could rise up from the ashes of the trouble 80s, he said adding that businessmen who fled the city in the 80s returned with their investment as soon as Mayor Duterte showed that there was still hope for the city.

            But I think the biggest testament to Mayor Duterte’s effort to push the city forward is the local government’s current financial standing. He started with a measly P180 million City Hall annual budget in 1988. The current annual revenue of the city government is pegged at nearly P4 billion, after a span of about 20 years. If you talk about speed, that is how the city government ran its race to progress—-very fast, he said.

            As I said, if we need to look for another leader, we need somebody of the same speed, pedigree, strong will and intelligence. The city does need an ass or a donkey in our kind of race to progress, he said. 

How Lopez betrayed his district

The Inside Story

 Months prior to the 2007 May elections, Second District last-termer congressman Ruy Elias Lopez literally on his knees begged Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to take him as his running mate.

            When spurned, Lopez, Duterte’s partymate in the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, planned to swallow his pride and eat his own words and make peace with Congressman Prospero Nograles for the sake of the 2007 elections.

Lopez has now indeed joined Nograles, whose boss Arroyo he wanted to topple down in 2005. Yes, betrayal and friendship are the key words.

            This is the sin so grave that Duterte kicked him out of the Hugpong and dumped his plea to be his running mate in 2007.

            Flashback to late 2005. Duterte was enjoying the friendship of President Arroyo in that year when the president was accused of rigging the elections leading to impeachment proceedings against her in Congress.

            The Hello Garci tapes had led to the worst political crisis of the Arroyo presidency.

            Duterte, whose Hugpong had aligned with the administration Lakas/CMD in 2005 and then the President’s consultant on internal security and presidential trouble-shooter for the volatile Central Mindanao, had stood by the President as the controversy sparked speculations of a military coup.

            Hoping Davao City would not be dragged into the fire burning the House of Representatives flared by the Hello Garci, tapes he had asked Lopez to be at the side of Arroyo on the controversy.

            But Lopez, even as his Nationalist People’s Coalition is coalesced with the rainbow party Lakas/CMD, apparently sensed that the days of Arroyo is numbered and joined the opposition in signing the impeach resolution.

            From that day on, Lopez lost the graces of Duterte not only due to betrayal of friendship but also for the implications of his actions.

            Lopez’ anti-Arroyo stance had cost his district serious damage: the House leadership after the aborted impeachment had refused to release his Congressional Development Fund for two years thereafter. Quantified into real benefits for his constituents, the CDF would have been P140 million worth of projects.

             A leading member of Hugpong narrated this course of event as Team Nograles in media reports quoting former mayor Ben de Guzman said that Lopez inked a political pact with Nograles because  Duterte is pushing Sara for the vice mayorship in 2005.

            De Guzman, now facing Duterte in the vice mayoral race, said Lopez told Duterte he would not be part of his campaign if Hugpong chooses Sara.

            This is a lie. Lopez asked for the slot but was spurned. He has conveniently forgotten that he has been kicked out from Hugpong in 2005 after he joined moves to impeach Arroyo. In fact, suffering from guilt, he had kept himself out of the radar of Duterte for two years until he met with him to beg that he be considered for the Hugpong vice mayorship, the Hugpong member said.

            Lopez is staging a comeback against Hugpong’s Congressman Isidro Ungab who miserably beat his brother Rene in 2007, under Nograles’ Lakas/Kampi/CMD.

But a Second District starved during his incumbency has no need for him today after committing a blunder when he backed impeachment moves against Arroyo, said the Hugpong member.

            After calling for the ouster of Arroyo in 2005, Lopez has now joined the administration party using his split with Duterte as a convenient reason, said the Hugpong member.

Lying politicians are the most hated persons during elections. Lopez joined Nograles for the only reason that Duterte did not take him as his running mate in 2005, the Hugpong member said. RMB

Rody won’t debate with ‘speck of dust’

To Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the lawyer he plucked from private practice to be his city administrator in 1989, made the vice mayor in 1995 and installed in 1998 at City Hall, is now nothing but an inconsequential speck of dust in the universe of local politics.

            Former mayor Benjamin de Guzman, now running as vice mayor of Congressman Prospero Nograles under the Lakas/Kampi/CMD banner, has been daring Duterte to a debate.

            Duterte, facing de Guzman in the vice mayoral race as his daughter Vice Mayor Sara Duterte’s running mate, has skirted the challenge, describing his former political ally turned bitter foe in one pitiful word: insignificant.

            De Guzman beat Nograles in the mayoral contest in 1998 mainly due to support of Duterte, who in that election run and won the First District congressional race. He beat reelectionist De Guzman in his comeback bid in the 2001 race for mayor, and dealt a another debacle to de Guzman in their second encounter in 2004.

            Widely seen as a token candidate, de Guzman is not being taken seriously by Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, Duterte’s party, in the May contest against his former political mentor, as he fares badly in surveys with a measly 13 percent against Duterte’s 70% plus ratings.

            De Guzman is a dead duck, said Hugpong in a statement as terse as Duterte’s description of the main who turned against him after building up his political career.

            De Guzman has been unleashed as loose cannon by Nograles against the Dutertes in the propaganda war, and has been consistently hitting City Hall over alleged mishandling of the peace and order fund and summary executions.

            In skirting a debate, Duterte said all de Guzman has to do is produce documents he alleged as evidence of anomalies in the Duterte administration.

Davao City revenue near P4 billion mark

Davao City’s annual revenue in 2009 was a few millions away from P4 billion, as the administration of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte continues to steer his city into Southern Mindanao’s premier city.    

In another positive news that bolstered the city’s image as a top choice of investors, total investment last year also reached a record high with P5.9 Billion poured into priority projects by old and new investors.         

City treasurer Rodrigo Riola said total income was pegged at P3.8 billion from local taxes accounting for P1.4 Billion and the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) at P 2.4 Billion.   

The 2009 windfall is seventeen percent higher against collection target of P3.7 Billion, credited mainly to the computerization of City Treasurer’s Office, a vigorous tax drive and the flood of new investments last year. 

Davao City Investment Promotions Center chief Roberto Teo said the hefty investment volume in 2009 indicates continuing confidence in the city’s potentials and in the Duterte administration.

Most of the investments were poured into housing and tourism projects further buttressing the city’s image as a tourist destination and an attraction to housing developers.

With business booming and more investments coming, this would translate to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s serious campaign to give our people more employment opportunities, said Teo whose office leads the campaign to lure investors with a package of tax incentives.

Riola summarized last year’s local collections as: P1,096,980,354.35 for tax revenue, P88,940,859.50 for permits and licensing, P93,060,190.71 for service income, P2,980,187.15 for business income, P17,942,436.17 for other income, and P86,884,219.21 under the economic enterprises.

Riola also said 25,464 business permits have been renewed in 2010, with 790 new business applying for permit or a 26,255 businesses currently operating in the city. RMB

 

BEATING KARLO THE EASY WAY

IN A STIFF FIGHT. Lawyer Karlo Nograles handing out scholarship certificates allegedly in exchange for scholars delivering 10 votes for him and father Congressman Prospero Nograles.

Who says lawyer Karlo Nograles is unbeatable in the First District congressional race?

His followers who may get the surprise of their life when councilor Mabel Acosta and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod unleash their arsenal to shake up Karlo and Congressman Nograles’ teetering hold in the city’s primary political district.

Even as pre-poll surveys show Karlo having a slim edge over Acosta, a perennial Number One in city council races in previous elections, the lady councilor on her last term could turn the tide in her favor if Mayor Rodrigo would do what he did to make Second District Congressman Isidro Ungab win in the 2007 elections against Rene Lopez, brother of former congressman Elias Ruy Lopez.

Hugpong insiders gave a preview of the scenario on how Karlo, son of Congressman Prospero Nograles, could end up eating dust when the battle in May settles down:

In what is seen as a frontal betrayal in 2005, then congressman Elias Ruy Lopez backed House attempt to impeach President Arroyo in wake of the “Hello Garci” tape.

This despite an appeal to Lopez, a member of the mayor’s local bloc Hugpong, by Mayor Duterte who was openly supporting Arroyo in the worse crisis of her presidency.

Lopez paid dearly for the betrayal when Mayor Duterte picked Ungab from nowhere and campaigned hard for him to beat his brother Rene. He was kicked out of Hugpong. Lopez also has eaten his words dished out when he pushed for Arroyo’s ouster and has joined Nograles, Arroyo’s foremost defender, for the coming elections.

 With Vice Mayor Sara Duterte leading challenger Nograles in the mayoral race with 70 percent ratings in pre-poll surveys, Mayor Duterte would have excess energies to campaign for Acosta in the First District, said the Hugpong insiders.

Mayor Duterte himself would have no problem in his vice mayoral bid, with Nograles’ candidate former mayor Ben de Guzman being a non-entity, said the insiders.

We expect also the Nograles campaign against Inday Sara to crash in the homestretch, particularly in the Second and Third districts where they have a very weak influence, to give Mayor Duterte and Hugpong time to push Acosta in the First District race.

The May poll is “ubusan ng lahi.” Duterte vs. Nograles. With Nograles getting a measly 30 percent this early in the post-elections surveys and Inday Sara taking in a hefty 70 percent, plus Mayor Duterte facing Ben de Guzman in a no-contest race, the main battle in the agenda of Hugpong in May for Mayor Duterte would be a rehash of the Ungab-Lopez fight in 2007 ending up with neophyte Karlo ending his first foray into politics in tragedy, said the Hugpong insiders, adding Mayor Duterte’s fervent dream is to erase the name Nograles in the city’s political landscape. RMB

 

The Durian Post: Column

THE DURIAN BEAT

By ROGER M. BALANZA

On the way to the slaughterhouse

Once again, the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod would be flexing its formidable organization when Congressman Prospero Nograles attempts—his third try—to wrest control of City Hall in May.

Hugpong and its predecessors—the Lakas ng Dabaw and the Alyansa sa Dabaw—have been key factors on why Mayor Rodrigo Duterte—at the helm of the formidable local political blocs—have maintained his hold for more than 20 years of this city’s political landscape.

Up against Nograles’ Lakas/CMD/Kampi—visible in his known bailiwick First District but a loose company of hastily-formed ragtag army of followers in the Third and Second districts—Hugpong is again expected to dominate the coming elections.

While Hugpong admits Nograles’s son lawyer Karlo has an edge over councilor Mabel Acosta in the First District congressional race, Nograles’ battle with mayoral daughter Vice Mayor Sara Duterte for the city’s top post could wind up into a teary ending for Nograles: a fifty-fifty share of the votes in the district would be more than enough to score a landslide of votes for Sara.

The First District despite Nograles’ district has never given him a solid vote in past elections and his weakness in the other two districts could spell a triple doom to make his bid another futile attempt.

            The windfall of votes for Sara is to be expected in the Third and Second districts—where the Nograles machinery is hardly felt—and where the Hugpong dominance is unchallenged.

Elias Ruy Lopez, now in Nograles’ company despite the former congressman having pushed for the impeachment of Nograles’ boss President Gloria Arroyo in 2005, has long lost his grip in the Second District starved by development funds in his last term as congressman. His comeback bid against incumbent Congressman Isidro Ungab—who beat his brother Rene in 2007 by a landslide—is a subject Third District would rather not talk about: all along that he was a congressman Elias Ruy Lopez is known to have limited his task to coffee shops and golf courses when in Davao City. His parting with Mayor Duterte—who openly backed Arroyo against impeachment proceedings—in 2005 has become a permanent political stigma that has made him a leper to Hugpong followers.

Ungab on the other hand has stood by Mayor Duterte and is now at the helm of Hugpong which he nurtured into a battle-ready machinery for Sara in the coming polls. Ungab also has endeared himself in the district to command loyalty with his physical presence: while Ruy Elias Lopez drank coffee and played golf instead of looking after his district’s welfare, Ungab meets weekly with constituents in offices he established in Calinan and Toril.

In the Second District, Nograles’ bet Joji Ilagan-Bian is considered a notch above a nuisance candidate with Mylene Garcia, sister of last-termer congressman Vincent Garcia, taking lead in all surveys in the congressional race. Like Ungab, Garcia has sustained the Hugpong machinery, which could be further solidified by councilors Diosdado Mahipus and Danilo Dayanghirang, who are into an independent dash for the post, also under the Hugpong banner with Sara and Rody their candidates.

 On the whole, Hugpong’s organization is a tested machinery up against Nograles’ hastily-formed army without solid footing.

Nograles’ third attempt to capture City Hall in May, if we are allowed to make our own doomsday prediction, is a trip to the slaughterhouse.