Surprises to mark congress race in Davao City

Will Cabling do an Ungab?

Will Mayor Rodrigo Duterte name a new face to run for Congress in 2010 in the Second District as he did in 2007 when he picked out former city councilor Isidro Ungab from nowhere to make him Congressman of the Third District?

Or to put in bluntly, is city councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling on the way to the route that Ungab took in 2007?

Flashback: Days ago Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the head of the local ruling bloc Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, was spotted at a local hotel in serious discussion with outgoing Second District Congressman Vince Garcia and Cabling. Garcia is grooming his sister, lawyer Mylen Garcia-Albano to fill in his shoes when he ends his term in 2010. Cabling is among three names that included retiring city councilors Danilo Dayanghirang and Diosdado Mahipus considered potential bets for the congressional post under the opposition-alligned Duterte bloc—if Vince would have Mylen run under the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD party headed here by Speaker Prospero Nograles. 

Questions. Questions. Were they talking about politics? A little birdie told me yes. Was Vince asked by Mayor Duterte under which party Mylen would run?  Or was Vince asked to run for vice mayor as running mate of Vice Mayor Sara Duterte? If Vince said yes, would he push Mylen’s congressional bid? If Vince said no, who then would Mayor Duterte choose to run for Congress in the Second District?

In 2007, Mayor Duterte was cracking his head who to field in the Third District congressional race against Rene Lopez, brother of last-termer Ruy Elias Lopez. But despite the still formidable Lopez machinery in place, he made Ungab a congressman in a race that made the Lopez brothers—son of former Mayor Elias B. Lopez, one of the politicians that helped Mayor Duterte win his first mayoral bid in 1988—eat dust. 

Back to the Second District. If Vince would opt to accept the offer of Mayor Duterte—if indeed there as such offer and Mylen would forego with her congressional bid—to run for vice mayor, the next move would be for the mayor to choose who from among Cabling, Dayanghirang and Mahipus would be running for the post left vacant by Vince.

The scoreboard: Mahipus and Dayanghirang have recently been mired in a bribery scandal involving some councilors shaking down investors in exchange for approval of their business applications. The bribery has been confirmed no less by Vice Mayor Sara Duterte and she reportedly has the names of the councilors involved furnished by the “victims.” when she conducted her own investigation on the scandal.

The two councilors also have made it known in public that they would gun for the congressional post—with or without Mayor Duterte’s support—with Vince, who still commands a formidable machine built up by his father veteran Congressman Manuel “Nonoy” Garcia, no longer in competition.

Mahipus could also be comfortable if he is not chosen by Mayor Duterte having the luxury of two political options: one, to run for congress under the Nograles banner or for the vice mayoral post also under the Speaker’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD party.

Dayanghirang has always been considered publicly as “unparliamentary material”–based on his performance at the city council—which could matter much when Mayor Duterte take the public pulse as barometer for choosing his candidate. Dayanghirang has also said he may push his bid as an independent if he does not get the nod of Mayor Duterte.

Speculation. Would it be Cabling then?

Cabling, who has still a term to go in the city council, has opened himself to possibility of running on three conditions: one, if there is no Garcia running for Congress in the coming polls; two,  if a Garcia runs under the Nograles party; three, if he is picked by Mayor Duterte.

If Vince was offered the vice mayoral slot which he accepted, who will be Mayor Rody’s bet for Congress in the Second District?

The question, my friend, can be answered by Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, who is running for mayor in May, and who we heard had been given by Mayor Duterte the right to choose her line-up. Would Sara have a congressional bet involved in a bribery scandal soiling her slate?