Come what May 9 (Sabong News)
Author
Jullie Y. Daza
Date
APRIL 19 2022
For the first time in political history (I think) three presidential candidates from three different parties came together to break bread with the press to reiterate their singular battlecry: “Come what may, we’re in this together!”; “
Tuloy ang laban
!”; “
Hindi pa tapos
ang boksing
!” (even if the fourth candidate, a champion boxer, was absent); and “After this conference, more Filipinos will know that they have more choices.”
The issue being that if as the surveys suggest, there are only two candidates in the race when there are, after all, nine or ten in all. Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and his running mate, Dr. Willie Ong; Norberto Gonzales, a former Defense secretary, without a teammate; Sen. Ping Lacson and his partner, Senate President Tito Sotto, declared without equivocation, “No one among us is withdrawing, no withdrawal.” Sen. Manny Pacquiao was up in the air on a plane somewhere, but his signature appears on their joint statement, assured the mayor.
Coming as it did on Easter Sunday, the presscon was the event to awaken and stimulate the senses after a long weekend of quiet and reflection (or what passes for the “Lenten gloom”). A function room of Manila Peninsula hotel appeared to be jammed to the rafters, although the four or five reporters who took the microphone could not be seen, only heard. The question Senator Lacson refused to dignify with an answer was why the conference was being held “in a five-star hotel when typhoon Agaton’s victims are still suffering.”
The theme and intended message of the conference was “We are not withdrawing” to dispel rumors and fake news, but along the way the candidates could not help sharing similar stories of how they were asked to “sacrifice” for the sake of unity by withdrawing from the race, those requests or offers coming from another candidate or that person’s agent or agents.
Surprisingly, as they spoke and answered questions with a poker face or mile-wide smiles, the background noise was interrupted by the occasional clapping of hands.
One question I would’ve wanted to hear: If the gentlemen don’t trust surveys, does Yorme believe the one that says he’s the first choice of respondents should the leading candidate drop out? Indeed, politics is theater
