By Atty. Farah G. Decano

 

MANILA Mayor Isko Moreno finally declared his intention to run for president.   Predictably, his humble beginnings may again be his battlecry.  After all, this may seem an advantage in a country that loves underdogs. Possible contenders, Senator Ping Lacson, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, former Senator Bongbong Marcos and Vice President Leni Robredo cannot claim a personal history of abject poverty.

The young mayor must remember, however, that heavy reliance on his slum origins didn’t work for him in 2016 when he ran for a senatorial seat.  His paid political ads on television showing him pushing garbage carts and roaming around the streets of Manila was an overstretched narration of his identity with the underprivileged.  It bored the viewers.  That he lost, I did not wonder.

The young Mayor should, therefore, reconsider this as the main angle of his campaign.   The projection of empathy with the hungry and the weary will not be his exclusive patent in the 2022 elections.  Its impact on the Filipinos will be cancelled out by another popular presidential hopeful who will definitely brag, “I was once penniless, too, you know.”

These formerly poor Filipinos are present day national celebrities:   Senator Manny Pacquaio being an international boxer while Mayor Isko being a former matinee idol.   Senator Manny’s rise in politics was more meteoric than the mayor though.  The latter’s development as a Manila local politician was a steady rise, marked by patches of brilliance. While Senator Pacquiao has yet to overcome his image as an absentee legislator who did not honor his word to the Filipinos – that he will not engage in boxing again once he gets elected as senator, Mayor Isko still has yet to scintillate as a national leader.  While the senator has yet to get a grip on what palabra de honor and integrity mean, he as a young mayor still has yet to test his leadership skills on the national level.

For one to win a one-on-one national position such as the presidency, the aspirant must not only earn the public’s trust. He or she must be able to capture the public’s fascination.  The thug-like answers of then candidate Rodrigo Duterte that neither hell nor heaven should matter wowed the Filipinos.  They found his crude ways courageous and charming.  Vice Presidential seeker Leni Robredo also endeared herself to the public with her poise and witty remarks.

I wonder how Mayor Isko shall differentiate himself from Senator Pacquiao.  I guess the national debates will show the difference. I am looking forward to how Mayor Isko will charm the public.

According to author, Ronald Heifetz, “[w]e attribute charisma to people who voice our pains and provide us with promise.  Sometimes in our desperation we do so without critical thought. Perhaps similar to chimpanzees who require an arousing alpha to serve as reference point, we too in times of disorientation seem to endow our authorities with idealized gifts. As long as they serve this need, we imagine them larger than life. We do not realize that the source of their charisma is our own yearning.”

With the pandemic still around and is still continuously pushing many families to levels below poverty, I surmise that the Filipinos yearn for economic alleviation or even the slightest reprieve from our sorry state.  I hope that politicians do not read this present vulnerability as a need for mere dole outs during campaign.   I hope aspiring leaders present a doable economic and financial plan that could cure our present state as the sick man in Asia for the second time around.

To all the presidential candidates, fascinate us with your plans please.  I hope the Filipinos no longer have much yearning for comedy in 2022.

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