Post-mortem

Business is once again ready to boom. All indications can be seen in the stock market and real estate prices going up – and would you believe, even the golf shares. This is how business usually reacts when there’s an upbeat mood as anticipated with the coming of a new administration. Of course, we must congratulate the winners of this election, the biggest first and foremost being the Filipino people for the peaceful and successful conduct of the first automated polls in the country. Despite the scorching heat that made the long wait more agonizing, Filipino voters exhibited admirable patience and perseverance just to exercise their right to vote. Indeed, the Philippines has every reason to stand tall and proud at this milestone in the country’s history.

The Commission on Elections and Smartmatic-TIM also came out the winners. Despite the nasty comments, criticisms, allegations and suspicions from many sectors, the poll partners delivered – which is really the most important at this point. Smartmatic president Cezar Flores was so confident he was willing to have his Venezuelan passport nailed on the wall – which only goes to show that he was so sure about the success of the automated polls. We have to give it to them – it worked no matter which way you look at it. For the first time, many local candidates were proclaimed as early as four hours after the closing of precincts without any protest from rivals – a far cry from previous elections.

And whether people will agree or not, we also have to give credit to the outgoing administration of GMA, the military and police for disproving all the doomsday scenarios spread by rumor- and fear-mongers – which is always the case in this country. Filipinos have a lot to be thankful for to our men in uniform, volunteers and teachers who risked their lives to protect the ballot. 

People also noticed the very good coverage made by Manny Pangilinan’s TV 5 especially with the comprehensive and speedy reportage on election results in various towns and provinces. MVP poured a lot of resources to boost the TV station’s capabilities especially with the use of PLDT communications facilities and its wide service network. I have to admit my skepticism has somehow abated regarding the accuracy of surveys – with Mahar Mangahas of the Social Weather Stations as another clear winner since the published results of their surveys were validated by the Comelec and PPCRV (unofficial) counts.

The biggest upset comes from Jojo Binay – something which polling outfits disclosed a few days before May 10. So far Mar Roxas has not conceded just like Joseph Estrada, both still waiting until the last vote is counted. As of this writing, almost 90 percent of the votes have been tallied – and there might still be a slim chance for Mar to overturn Jojo’s lead, but the surge will have to come soon. There’s been a lot of talk about how this upset came about. From what I’m told, Binay – the president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines – used his Boy Scouts network (estimated at three million), Makati’s sister cities, the Mayor’s League and the Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity – and he did it quietly – all of which gave him an edge. But the biggest factor was the Noynoy Aquino-Jojo Binay endorsement from Chiz Escudero which certainly gave Binay a lot of mileage. In retrospect, Mar Roxas’ camp regrets allowing something like that to happen considering that he had been the frontrunner from the start.

No matter which way it goes, Joseph Estrada has proven himself, coming out number two in the race, and for that he is also a winner. Even his balae Manolo Lopez – a known Noynoy Aquino supporter – admitted that if Noynoy had not run, Erap would have become president again. Actually, there was a last-minute attempt by some people to get Estrada and Manny Villar together and convince either one of them to throw his support behind the other, or just join forces and throw their support behind a common candidate like Gilbert Teodoro. But none was willing to give in – everybody wanted to be a winner. In the end they all lost, giving the victory on a silver platter to Noynoy. 

The way I look at it, Manny Villar dropped the ball several times, first when he refused to be interpellated and answer the C-5 controversy which would have made people see he was willing to fight back and defend his name. When questions were raised about his poor “Tondo Boy” roots and charges of stock manipulation to benefit his real estate came out, he again did not fight back when people actually expected him to answer all these accusations. When his ratings went down, he should have used a special survey to find out if he needed to change his strategy instead of allowing himself to look like the underdog, even allowing his mother to come into the picture – which boomeranged.

Be that as it may, there is also that one thing which, if we look back at our political history – is attributed to the jinx that always comes with the Speakership. Since the Commonwealth, any politician who becomes Speaker of the House has never made it as president. Jose Yulo (Speaker from 1938 to 1941) lost to Carlos P. Garcia in the 1957 elections. Ramon Mitra lost to FVR in 1992, Joe de Venecia lost to Erap in 1998. Manny Villar was Speaker from 1998 to 2000 – and of course Erap never forgave him for being the Speaker who banged the gavel that railroaded the impeachment of Joseph Estrada.

The peso strengthened, investors are upbeat, and business is about to boom. 

No doubt everyone is excited, and this positive sentiment is expected to continue for the next six months, with people willing to let the new administration enjoy the so-called honeymoon period as things gets back on track. And then the real hard work will begin for the new president and his administration.

* * *

Email: [email protected]