INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

Mayor going up against Arroyo son for House seat

Inquirer

Juan Escandor Jr.

SAN FERNANDO, Camarines Sur, Philippines -- The mayor of a small town has shattered expectations here that Diosdado Ignacio “Dato” Arroyo, younger son of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, would run unopposed for congressman in Camarines Sur’s first district.

Former congressman and now Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. earlier called off a plan to field his wife Marisa in the congressional contest.

Mayor Sabas “Abang” Mabulo, 47, won the 2004 mayoral race unopposed but could not take it that no one in the first district has stood up to offer an “option” to Arroyo’s candidacy.

Option

“I believe that we have to offer an option if we want to prove that democracy works by changing politics, by defying the wishes of entrenched politicians,” Mabulo said.

Mabulo, a former worker of the nongovernment organization Pag-Bicol, acknowledged that he was facing a formidable political machinery and resources of Arroyo, who has the support of Andaya, Rep. Luis R. Villafuerte, Gov. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte and nine mayors of the first district of Camarines Sur.

“I want to try to win, recognizing the limitations of having no massive political machinery, power and resources and mainly relying on a network of church-based organizations, nongovernment organizations, and the civil society that include the Metro Naga business group,” he said.

If he could not mobilize volunteers to his side, he would lose, he said.

Mabulo said the decision to run against Arroyo came after a “deep discernment” because of the outcome of breaking ties with his political allies.

What made him decide to play the role of David against a Goliath in terms of politics was the pledge of a church-based Catholic organization called the Christian Life Community of the Philippines, a nationwide organization, which he said, was present in all parishes.

Integration

Mabulo said he did not have goodies to share but he would rely on integration with the communities and press the hands of as many people as possible while explaining his purpose in running.

He has been in local politics for 11 years now since he was first elected as councilor of the 22-village town with 14,251 voters.

After serving his first term in the town council, he ran and won the mayoral race with only a margin of 172 votes in the 1995 elections. In 2001, this margin improved to 254 votes.

But Mabulo, son of a former town vice mayor, is the first mayor here to run unopposed in the 2004 elections. He got 72 percent of the total 10,930 votes cast.

San Fernando is 30 kilometers, via the national road, from Libmanan, the town where Arroyo established residency in the village of Potot.

Libmanan is the biggest town in Camarines Sur with 75 villages and 41,734 voters of the 189,822 voters of the first district.

Mabulo won in all the elections he joined even though he had no permanent political party. He claimed he had not spent more than P50,000 in mayoral contests.

Allies

He allies himself with local politicians who believe in the same principle of transparency that he espouses, Mabulo said.

When he decided to take on the challenge of running against the official candidate of the local administration coalition, Mabulo in effect burns political bridges with his former political allies, including Andaya, the political kingpin in Camarines Sur’s first district.

This also means going against the solid endorsement of the rest of the nine mayors here who favor the candidacy of Arroyo.

More so, the decision of this mayor to run against Arroyo is on a collision course with the combined political machinery of the Andayas and the Villafuertes, the dominant political clans in the province.

‘Default’ option

Asked if he conformed late last year with the endorsement of Arroyo by Andaya when it was presented to the 10 mayors of the first district, Mabulo said he did not say a word and did not welcome the development.

Mabulo said if Andaya’s wife Marisa pursued her plan to run he could have supported her candidacy all the way. He said it had been his “default” option before Arroyo’s candidacy was announced.

He said that the “default” option was “to defend the gains of the Andayas in the first district.”

Ironically, his original plan was to take a leave from politics when his third term as mayor would end this year and then go back to teaching or work in an NGO.

“It’s a long shot and it has never been a part of my dream to go beyond being a mayor of this town,” Mabulo said.

Andaya and Mabulo were together in the Liberal Party, Atienza wing, until the latter was sworn in by Sen. Franklin Drilon last week as standard-bearer in the congressional race against Arroyo.

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