FOR THE WIN!

March 1, 2025 Opinion

The campaign period is on and here is an unsolicited advice from one who learned the hard way and been there for
over decades now. It is easy to file a COC, but how to win is a different matter and not every Tom, Dick, Harry are
serious contenders. It takes a carefully studied-strategic-plan to run for public office. Tama naman si BBM-”ung pinabili ka lang ng suka, nagkandidato ka na,” will not work. A candidate must be true, authentic, sincere, “clean” with no badges of scandals or signets of corruption.

Track-record in the private or public sector is a must and social responsibility initiatives or membership in socio-civic organizations rendering service, done in the past, not six months or less before. Family background also counts and reputation in one’s chosen profession is a plus. Being linked to gambling, drinking and other vices brings negative vibes. Allan German, heir of Reli, campaign strategist of Erap says there are 3 kinds of candidates.

A “Gut” candidate-When you walk inside a room-pansinin, nag pa pa-selfie ang crowd, pang-masa, idol, siga, kanto boy, gutter language parang artista! A “Heart Candidate” feels the people, knows their needs and wants, alam ang
pinagdaanan ng bawat isa! A “Head Candidate”- he has the solutions-Reform, get rid of corruption, good government. One cannot however be the other though and at best a combination of two would help. Of course first things first is why are you running, what do you offer? The key is the message. Of course the motherhood statement
is to ‘serve’, but how?

If you are running for councilor, what ordinance will you file to uplift the lives of the people? Will you be a stamp-pad of the executive or just be part of the committee on silence? It is not enough that you sing and dance, but you must have at least a legislative-agenda at hand. For higher office, the messaging should focus on what your plans are, what you have done and what can you do. On the ground, C-D-E voters do not care what your stand is on ‘impeachment’ or that hizzoner has benefitted from the more than seven stations of illegal gambling with a weekly take of P300,000.00/per or that Cong is corrupt when he dispensed of his pork barrel, Akap, Ayuda etc.

What matters to them is “kahit paano” nakatulong sa akin-konting-cash, bigas, sardinas when needed most. The debates are with the A & B crowd who are a minority in numbers. Our voters prefer kind, popular candidates over track-record, educational-attainment or integrity. Madaling-lapitan, mabait, hindi suplado-strikto, me-konting bigay, gwapo is a plus! You must have “mullah.” In my estimate, to run for City Councilor, you must have a minimum of P1,000,000.00 for a #12 post, P1-P3M for the top three SB positions, ready and available in your pocket when you
file your COC.

Allan calls it “Holster Fund”-nabu-bunot agad! For Vice-Mayor P10M to P20M and for Mayor or Congressman,
P30M to P50M wala pa yung pambayad sa Picos machine. Unfortunately- kung wala kang “resources’ sa umpisa pa lang, mahirapan ka o wala ka na! Reality Check today: Running for office, relying on your qualifications, dole-outs or party contribution or having few/no money at all is the ultimate recipe for political disaster/tragedy! In Baguio, with 170,000 voters+++, for Councilor, the magic number to land in #12 would be 50,000 votes. Multiply that by P20.00/ (not the COMELEC imposed P5.00/voter) and that amount should be on hand when you file your COC.

For higher office of course, the factor may reach P500.00/voter, minimum. Voters in the City are name-re-callers-Old-familiars, relatives, thus making it hard for the “alternatives-newbees” to penetrate the market. Since you are “selling” yourself, you must have GAP-Good-Attractive-Packaging as your marketing tool. A good “Tag” line would help and my father’s cousin Horacio “Boy” Morales who authored PJEE “Jeep-ni-Erap” and “Erap-para-sa-mahirap” says it must be catchy enough to penetrate the minds/ hearts of the masses.

In the past Timpuyog had a catchy “aramid ti pakakitaan” but won’t work this time as the leader and his counterpart’s daughter are now facing-off for a congressional seat. Ang Speaking dollar or English tags hindi patok! When I comeback in 2028 my hashtag would be”Agila-Tamang Panahon!”, o-ha, he he! Machinery of course is a plus. My advice for “independent” wannabees, join a party. No such thing as being ‘free/independent’ to fight for your advocacy. A party would help in the logistics of the day-to-day-campaign. The goal is to win, saka na yung independence!

Sound-system, headquarters, campaigners, leaders, pakain, political ads, social media expenses etc. shouldered by the party will not dent your personal budget which you can allocate it for some better use. Lahat naman ng
candidato who join parties are like subscribers to ‘Globe’-they are “user friendly!” In the ground, in the campaign, when a voter says I do not like your Mayor or your Congressman, as sure as the sun will rise, his/her answer would be “bahala ka na sa Mayor-Congressman mo, basta iboto mo ako.” No principled politics-in-play around. I know a re-electionist councilor in the slate of a party but silently campaigning for the opponent-kalakalan!

A major component now is social-media-campaign, so spend on your “troll-farm”, a group of mercenaries posting whatever favorable report or survey results which you paid for. The danger is the bashing you get from your opponents own farm. One candidate conducted an online-survey in FB and of course won handily but when reviewed, some of those who voted were from Manila, worse Cambodia, Vietnam and Timbuktu, thus a backlash of
laughter and scorn. There too are the voting blocks : the Churches (although Picos dissolved their votes), the womens’/youth vote, the Ibaloi Votes which has not really been measured in the past, lowland (Pangasinan, Ilocano, Tagalog, Visaya) and highland (Mt. Province, Kalinga, Ifugao), Muslims, Barangay Officials, the Left and the silent majority, whose vote will be swayed 10 days before the elections.