Makati race

We did not expect our piece on Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay’s apparent ill-advised step to field his son in the 2010 mayoralty race to elicit quite a response from the business community. It is clear that the battle for the top Makati post is of major significance to the movers and shakers of the country’s financial district since this enclave is right at the heart of this city.

Political pundits of the business district say it has become clear lately as to who really abandoned who. Earlier, sympathizers of Mayor Binay said it was Vice Mayor Nestor Mercado who has jumped ship to pursue his bid sans the support of his long-time ally. The Binay camp pointed out that at a Tarlac event in November 26, the mayor reiterated earlier statements that he is supporting Mercado’s 2010 mayoralty bid.

Not true, say the business district political observers. They said that as early as November 25, Mayor Binay had already signed and submitted the nomination by his party of his son, Makati Councilor Junjun Binay, for the mayoralty contest.

They also pointed out that Junjun’s certificate of candidacy had already been notarized on November 27, a fact that tends to dismiss claims by the mayor’s camp that they had waited for Mercado to return to the fold and only filed Junjun’s candidacy after Mercado filed his in November 29. The more believable version of the story, our friends point out, is that Mercado decided to pursue his bid after it became clear that the earlier commitment to field him would no longer materialize.

They added that it is illogical for Mercado to have bolted the Binay camp were he not junked in favor of the clan’s political scion. It would have been a walk in the park for Mercado is he had the druthers and ran under Binay’s wing.

We do not wish to be caught in the crossfire, we assured our friends. Our earlier take on the Makati mayoralty race merely intended to compare the contrasting approaches to politics by two incumbent mayors: Makati’s Mayor Binay who decided to field his son to fill up the post he is vacating; and, Quezon City’s Mayor Sonny Belmonte who opted to field his vice mayor instead of a relative.

We warned that perceptions of a looming political dynasty could take its toll. Our business district friends say they agree with the observation, expressing concern that the dynasty issue may be taking its toll on the Binays. They explained that there has been a significant exodus of key political allies from the mayor’s camp to the fold of Vice Mayor Mercado.

For example, seven out of the 16 incumbent Makati councillors are now in the Mercado group: Vincent Sese, Henry Jacome, Virgilio Hilario, former basketball star Elias Tolentino, Ernie Aspillaga, Marites de Lara and Salvador Pangilinan. On the other hand, there are only six councillors reportedly still committed to mayor.

The exodus may not have ended yet, they added.

What appears to be more troubling to the Binay camp are reports that prominent Makati Congressman Teddyboy Locsin is actually supporting Vice Mayor Mercado’s bid. So do some 22 out of the 33 barangay chairmen in the city.

Do the figures indicate a groundswell of support for Mercado’s bid?

We don’t know. And it may be too early to tell. Our political pundit-friends also warned that there seems to be a vicious smear campaign against the vice mayor on the ground and he needs to watch out. Mercado’s consolation is that there is a clear perception at this point that when the gun was fired at the starting line of the race, he appears to have taken an early lead.

That is a perception. Mercado will still have to translate the perception of an early lead to a concrete election victory.

But we are not in the business of predicting the outcome of political battles. We reiterate that the intention of our earlier take on the Makati mayoralty race was simply to pinpoint apparent consequence of the contrasting moves taken by two respected political leaders.

Did Mayor Belmonte take the safer, surer path? We can’t say. What is clear is that he has opted to seize the moral high ground and snatched a potential issue away from his political nemeses.

Did Mayor Binay take a serious misstep? Who are we to judge? Only the consequences of his decision to field a son as the heir to the Makati throne would tell.

Not so hidden agenda

Campaign Magazine has announced that DDB Worldwide won the Network of the Year Award for 2009 while Tribal DDB was named Digital Network of the Year at the Media Agency of the Year Awards.

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