Presidential race now in the final stretch!

As the front-page news item of The Philippine STAR last Friday said, "It’s final: No unity in opposition." Actor Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) and Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson are going to continue with their separate campaigns, with Ping having the last say that there is a possibility that FPJ might accept a last-ditch effort to be his vice presidential candidate. At this point in the game with barely a week to go in the presidential race, the public cannot expect any more unity efforts from both camps.

After the dust of the elections settles, I’m sure that both candidates will end up blaming each other for losing the presidential race. As a final thrust to destroy the credibility of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA), the two candidates apparently agreed on one common thing — that GMA could only win if she cheats!

Now if you ask me, this is downright unfair to the President who, after all, sat quietly when the Social Weather Station (SWS) or Pulse Asia surveys showed Raul Roco leading the pack but was later overtaken by FPJ and now, the two are way behind the President. Because the polls show that they are trailing, these early survey leaders are now trying to discredit the very same institutions that told them the truth when they were leading. But when reality shows them trailing, they suddenly question the veracity of these surveys.

Clearly, the joint declaration of these two presidential candidates was designed to place in the minds of the voters that if they lose the elections, it is only because the President cheated! This is totally baseless. Until and unless we really see massive cheating during Election Day, with so many people having camera phones today, I doubt if this will happen. Well, we’ve aired this warning before that in this presidential race, there will only be one winner and a bunch of sore losers! It’s time to jolt both FPJ and Ping Lacson back to their senses that the surveys are accurate and if they don’t unify in this final stretch of this campaign, it’s going to be over for them but the crying!

As for Sen. Raul Roco, well, he’s back from his medical leave and in the campaign trail. But here in Cebu, even the staunchest Promdi supporter has his doubts if Roco can recover lost ground. Actually, a lot of us expected Sen. Roco to be transparent about his illness but alas, he came up with the truth about his medical problem too late in the hour, which brings a cloud of doubt about his belief in real transparency. Indeed, transparency was one of the questions he raised against the Arroyo administration, but now he suffers from the same accusation for not being transparent enough with his health!

At this point, the debate in our local radio stations is centered on whether Raul Roco can win sympathy votes. Frankly speaking, I doubt if Filipinos would vote for a sick presidential candidate; Filipinos are not just comfortable about another vice president taking over the presidency in the middle of his term… more so since we have mediocre vice presidential candidates.

Finally, about Bro. Eddie Villanueva. Well, he pulled another stunt, this time in Makati, but his show of force may have been a big crowd by Makati standards, but it falls very short of his first "show of force" at the Luneta at the beginning of his campaign. I understand that he is going to use the text brigades to sell himself to the public and I would like to believe that texting is the "silent factor" in winning the presidency. However, Bro. Eddie must answer certain questions that many Catholics would like him to answer.

Actually, I posed this question to my classmate, Bro. Eddie’s campaign manager Harry Limtong, when he was in Cebu a month ago. I requested Harry to ask this question directly to Bro. Eddie Villanueva: "If he wins the presidency and on the first day he moves to Malacañang, what will he do with the numerous statues of Jesus Christ on the cross or the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Sto. Nino? Will he throw them away like what other Born Again Christians always do?" Well, Harry promised me that he would deliver this question to Bro. Eddie V. but until now, I haven’t gotten any answer.

To counter Bro. Eddie Villanueva’s text brigades, Catholic groups opposed to his candidacy have begun their counter-measures. Here’s one that has been spreading around: "It is a sin for a Catholic to vote for Eddie V. Why? 1. He is anti-Catholic! anti-Pope, anti-Mary! 2. He is pro-divorce. He agrees with H.B. 4110… the law on abortion…Pls pass!" Of course, we submit to what the pundits have been saying that there’s no such thing as a Catholic vote because we elected a non-Catholic in the person of President Fidel V. Ramos. But then, FVR was not an anti-Catholic, he being a mainstream Protestant, while Eddie V. is staunchly anti-Catholic… that’s the big difference!

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Because the Philippine military issued that alert warning that the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) posed a terrorist threat to our country, the United States and Canada immediately renewed their travel advisories to their citizens, warning them to avoid specific areas like the Zamboanga Peninsula or southwest Mindanao. I don’t blame them; after all, they have been doing that in the past and we submit that we do live in dangerous times. However, this time, we should point out that we are not alone in violence-ridden ASEAN.

In Ambon, Indonesia, clashes between Muslims and Christians resulted in the deaths of 24 people. In their case, it is the Christian minority versus the Muslim majority, the exact opposite in the Philippines. In Thailand just a few days ago, 127 were killed in Pattani when Thai security forces battled Muslim rebels in southern Thailand. It was the bloodiest day in Thai history. So you see, the Philippines isn’t alone in having a problem with extremists or separatists! What can we say… now is the time for Thailand to experience what Indonesia and the Philippines have been suffering for many years. I’m sure that this bloody report has scared tourists away from Thailand.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.