Trying a new and different kind of leader
By Leonardo Micua
MY good friend Manny Zambrano, who’s based in Chicago and brother of one of our photojournalists, Ray Zambrano, is in town for a brief vacation.
He called me up on October 18 to have dinner at a seafood restaurant along JdV Expressway, but I begged off considering that it was a Friday and I would most likely be late due to the press work in The Punch.
Last Wednesday night, he called me up again, this time from Bolinao where he went to enjoy the sea breeze and see different sights before heading on to La Union, and then Baguio.
He’s going back home to Chicago after visiting the grave of his loved ones in Villasis on All Saints’ Day to make sure he’ll be able to cast his vote.
I asked who he’s voting for: the Democrat’s Vice President Kamala Harris or the Republican’s former President Donald Trump?
Instantly, he replied that he’s supporting Kamala.
His voter’s view and prediction of the US election result reflects what most American and foreign political analysts have been forecasting — a tight win one way or the other on the popular vote, which means the battle will come down to the Electoral College, where the winning candidate will need at least 270 votes, more than half of the current number of electors.
Their electoral system is different from what he have in the Philippines and here’s a useful guide on the American voting system for president and VP https://www.usa.gov/electoral-college#:~:text=In%20most%20cases%2C%20a%20projected,events%20for%20the%202020%20election.
Harris and Trump are now doing everything they can to woo voters in a few swing states, the crucial areas that could decide who’s going to be the next president of the richest and, arguably, most powerful nation on earth.
Asked why he’s rooting for Kamala, Manny — who was one time the official photographer of then Governor Rafael Colet, who reigned as chief executive of Pangasinan when Cory Aquino was president — said the United States must try and test a new leader with a different style of governance.
Trump, he said, had already been tested during his four-year presidency before Joe Biden pulled the rag under his feet.
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When Super Typhoon Kristine veered towards northern La Union, specifically Balaoan, as it headed towards the West Philippine Sea, the province of Pangasinan was again spared from wholesale devastation.
Some areas, though, took a beating. Based on a live report of IFM Radio Dagupan, the whole capitol compound where various provincial and national government offices are located, transformed on Thursday into an instant water world, literally speaking.
The flooding was blamed to storm surge, not the rains which did not come aplenty. Nor was it blamed for the opening of one gate of the San Roque Dam on October 23, which according to reports was only minimally felt in towns crisscrossed by the Agno River.
The inundation of the capitol complex may have been compounded by the poor drainage system in the area, which may have been overlooked by the provincial engineering office under the Guico administration.
A report of the Pangasinan PDRRMO stated that not only Lingayen was endangered by storm surge from the Lingayen Gulf.
Also affected are Dagupan City, San Fabian, Binmaley, Labrador, Sual, Alaminos City, Bani, Anda, Bolinao and others in the western seaboard of Pangasinan.
If he was at the Urduja House when Kristine struck Pangasinan, Gov. Ramon Guico III may have been stranded there by floodwaters that was above knee level.
Based on the early morning report of IFM’s Joana de Vera, drivers of light vehicles, motorcycles and tricycles feared going through the flooded capitol compound.
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