Davao City bet offers an alternative to political dynasties
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — After months of campaigning and offering people alternatives to one family rule in the city, political bets are finally leaving it up to the people to decide what kind of leaders they want to have.
This is true among those who challenged the Dutertes’ almost four-decade power grip in this city and reelectionist Paolo Duterte who earlier made a similar remark after the spread of a video showing him threatening a local businessman with a knife.
Among the Duterte clan’s challengers, candidate for first district congressional seat Mags Maglana held a meeting de avance on Saturday, May 10, devoid of fanfare and the usual entertainment fare that marked the meeting de avance of traditional politicians.
Inside a venue at Juna Subdivision here, friends and supporters of Maglana talked about how difficult it was to campaign against the ruling political clans in the city but found strength and hope in each other’s shared vision of a future where people would be enlightened and empowered enough to reject the reign of political dynasties in the city.
Maglana is running against incumbent first district Rep. Paolo Duterte, son of former President Duterte who is currently detained in The Hague, Netherlands for charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
READ: Nograles siblings in bid to end Duterte family’s rule
Also running against his son Paolo is Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party list Rep. Migs Nograles, daughter of the late House Speaker Prospero Nograles, once Duterte’s political rival here before they patched up and joined forces when the older Duterte became the country’s 16th president.
In Monday’s midterm local and national elections, the beleaguered Duterte patriarch is running for mayor here in tandem with his son incumbent Mayor Sebastian Duterte, as his vice mayor.
Running against Duterte, Migs Nograles’ brother, former Civil Service Commission (CSC) Secretary Karlo Nograles, has formed an alliance with prominent political families in the city’s second and third districts hoping to break the almost 40-year old political dynasty.
In contrast to the Duterte rallies, where speakers tried to wring sympathies for the Duterte patriarch’s arrest, the Nograles’ team focused their discussions on problems ailing the city, including the sluggish processing of business permits which could shy away prospective investors, the perennial flooding and the frequently absent head of the city.
Nograles, who runs with Dr. Bernie Al-ag as his vice mayor, offered to more than triple the P2,000 to P5,000 assistance that patients get from the city’s Lingap para sa Mahirap to P25,000 per patient.
He promised to upgrade the district hospitals in Marilog and Paquibato to the Level 2 hospitals so that patients no longer had to travel very far to bring see a doctor in the city. He also promised scholarships to students in public schools, free uniforms, shoes and school supplies; and college scholarship for students after Grade 12, among others.
But most of all, Nograles said the city’s confidential funds should best be spent for other priority projects in the city without sacrificing peace and order.
Nograles’ team, largely composed of political families in the city’s second and third districts, also shared how they dealt with hostilities during the campaign: their tarpaulin and posters being torn down and replaced by the tarpaulins of their opponents, how they were being bashed and attacked on social media. “But do the people we’re going to choose have the right capability to run the city? Do they have good manners, do they even have programs on how to address the problems in this city?” asked one running for councilor.
Al-ag, Nograles running mate, also brought up the several problems in the city which he said the current mayor failed to solve, including the perennial flooding, the sanitary landfill, among others. “Have the city offered a solution or not?” he asked during the late night rally on Saturday, and when the crowd answered in the negative, he said it was high time they put someone else in their place.
Maglana’s miting de avance, which started at 1 p.m. and ended about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, stood in stark contrast to the huge political rallies of the Dutertes and the Nograleses.
Aside from the absence of fanfare, it was subdued and reflective, as expected of a group offering an alternative to the political dynasties.
Among those who spoke, Jeanette Ampog, executive director of Talikala, a support group of prostituted women, recalled a gathering they planned to hold for women at the barangay facility of the city’s Barangay 5-A but did not push through because barangay officials immediately turned it down as soon as they learned that Maglana, who is running against a Duterte, was to talk in the gathering.
Ampog said it taught them to become creative. “What we learned about those women, even if they were die-hard Duterte supporters, they were also struggling economically,” she said after they gathered the women in their facility.
Maglana’s group also shared how they braved hostilities from Duterte’s die-hard supporters following the arrest of the former President by the ICC but which they were able to overcome by listening to the issues confronting them.
Ampog said that during their talks with the women, these were mostly economic issues.
Youth leader Ella Eunice Millan, who was part of Maglana’s campaign team, said the campaign was one of her most memorable ones because of the sheer amount of rejections and pain she had to contend with. “It’s something that I could not easily forget, but Mags helped me with her grounding techniques,” she said.
“She said it was not about me,” Ella added, explaining that it was part of the struggle to have a future devoid of political dynasties.
Millan said there were times when their flyers were being torn, or were refused and although they were told not to take it personally, they can’t help feeling disappointed.
“But there are people who still listen; and that gives us hope to continue because it proves that there are still Davaoeños who are not part of the cult of the Dutertes,” Millan said.
Maglana asked voters who are casting their votes on Monday to look at the face of their children and grandchildren even before they begin shading their ballots. “Think of what kind of future you’re going to leave them by the ballots that you cast,” she said. “Will you continue to leave the city in the hands of one political family?” she asked.
