General Admission
And my President is…
By Al S. Mendoza
WE all have our own wish-list for the 2016 presidential election.
Without a doubt, Grace Poe, being presently the most popular choice for President, could be first on your notepad.
Who would be next seems too elusive to pin down.
Grace is popular because she is the foundling daughter of the King of Philippine movies, the late FPJ.
FPJ’s widow, Susan Roces, is also a superstar actress in another era.
Certainly, the FPJ magic is not lost with the passing of the movie legend 10 or so years ago.
Grace has consistently reaped the fruits of the FPJ mystic all this time.
But as I write this, Grace has yet to say she would run for President in 2016.
Her dilly-dallying is starting to hurt her chances.
Historically, we hate “teka-teka” people; we brand them as indecisive, prone to defeats.
For sure, Jojo Binay is the No. 1 hater of “teka-teka.”
Almost right after he upset Mar Roxas in the VP derby in 2010, Binay immediately announced he’d go for the presidency in 2016.
He kept his promise, becoming the first to throw his presidential hat into the ring a couple months back.
Roxas followed suit just a while ago after earning, finally, the long-awaited anointment from P-Noy.
The endorsement from P-Noy is crucial for Roxas, whose rating is eagerly anticipated to shoot up after lagging mostly behind Poe and Binay.
Binay is well-entrenched with a political network that has been in place for decades now, starting with his dynastic, 29-year rule of Makati.
Also, his UNA party has a nationwide clout.
Roxas isn’t far behind in terms of party machinery as his LP, with P-Noy as the titular head, has also a lock on countryside operations.
It is Poe who fails badly in this area; her hard-line independent stance could be her own undoing in the long run.
Without a party, she could transform into a lame duck presidential bet.
Digong Duterte is also a bit popular now but, like Poe, he also doesn’t have a rock-solid party to lean on if and when he joins the presidential fray.
If you ask me, Alan Peter Cayetano has more massive machinery than Duterte if he becomes bold and brave enough to make a go of the presidency in 2016.
Cayetano’s NP headed by billionaire Manny Villar is also as solid as Mar’s LP, with five senators to boot under NP’s wings like Trillanes, Marcos, Villar, and Alan Peter’s sister, Pia.
If truth be told, of all the presidentiables, the most intelligent, sensible and trustworthy is Alan Peter Cayetano.
Now, if we go by actions and results, Duterte should be it.
Alan Peter and Digong may not be as popular as Poe but then, Malacanang isn’t a factory of make-believe, where Famas acting is a perennial B-movie—as in Erap’s forgettable 1998-2001 cameo role that, sadly, spawned the lamentable Edsa Dos.
The choice we make defines us.
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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