Political fights are like sports tilts

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

POLITICAL fights are like sports competitions. One must play the complete series of games scheduled to know how far one can go. That’s how it is done in any major international event like in the NBA, and in the local front, the PBA. In tennis, there’s the Wimbledon, Australian Open and U.S Open; Tour de France, Giro de Italia and Vuelta Espana in cycling; and of course there’s the Olympics and Asian Games. To ensure your victory, you must do an exceptional and consistent performance.
These were displayed by sports greats like Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz in swimming, Roger Federer and Bjorn Borg in lawn tennis, Lance Armstrong and Eddy Merckx in cycling, Muhammad Ali and Manny Pacquiao in boxing, Jose “Pele” Necemiento and David Beckham in football, Abebe Bikila and Frank Shorter in marathon. These are my sports heroes whom I admire most because from day one up to the last day of their events, they demonstrated sterling performances to reach their goal.

It’s no different to our own political system. You have to be consistent too, during the surveys and more importantly during the tabulation of the votes from day one up to the last count of votes. This is what’s happening to Benigno “Noynoy’ Aquino III, our likely next president of the republic. When Noynoy officially announced his intention to run for the highest post of the land, surveys already indicated his lead against the other aspirants. He maintained that lead not only in the surveys but also in the actual count where he was never overtaken by any other candidate.

In sports like in politics, cheating could also be widespread, particularly in basketball, baseball, football and boxing. Referees, judges, umpires and timers are often the culprits in these. And because of incompetence and deception, many times many riots ensued and charges were filed in the court. The most scandalous was the 1971 Micaa (now called PBA) rhubarb when Robert Jaworski and Alberto Reynoso of the then Meralco team attacked two referees after the game because of biased officiating. This incident caused them a lifetime ban from playing and were almost sentenced to years of imprisonment. But following pleas from the two, Jaworski and Reynoso were allowed to resume playing three years later and were instrumental in making the Meralco win the diadem.

The rest was history.

* * *

Congrats to the newly elected governor of Zambales, the former DPWH and DND secretary and ex-PNP chief Hermogenes E. Ebdane, Jr. Reports reaching me said Ebdane, who hails from Candelaria town, garnered 125,202 votes against his rival, the incumbent governor Amor Deloso, with 96,112 or a difference of 29,090 votes.

Likewise to former NCRPO chief Leopoldo N. Bataoil of Lingayen for winning the second district congressional seat with a wide margin of almost 30,000 votes against his closest opponent Lo Kim Manaois of Labrador.

Also to my relative and my former barangay mate Herminio A. Romero for being elected anew (3rd time) as Mangaldan’s chief executive with a difference of 9,515 votes against Bonafe de Vera Parayno.

The same to Alaminos City veem Teofilo “Bosyong’ Humilde Jr. for capturing one of two seats as board member in the first district of Pangasinan.

I’m acquainted with them because they are true sports lovers. I honestly believe that this is one of the reasons why majority of the electorate in their respective places voted for them. They have captured the hearts of the masses, especially the young ones.

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