Election developments favoring the President

The two most important developments in these coming elections are: Raul Roco’s absence during the campaign period due to necessity of his taking medical treatment abroad and the failure of Fernando Poe, Jr. and Sen. Panfilo Lacson to agree on who between them should withdraw from the race. Needless to say, the beneficiary of both developments is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

To begin with, Roco was running a poor third even before his prostate problem recurred. The last polls taken before he went to the United States for treatment showed Roco with a meager 12 percent as compared to President Arroyo’s 34 and FPJ’s 31.

Although he has not officially withdrawn his candidacy, many of his followers will now no longer support him on account of his health condition. Where will their votes go? We believe that the big majority will shift to President Macapagal Arroyo. Roco was formerly Secretary of Education. Is it conceivable that some of his supporters will now shift to a person who is only a high school drop-out. A more correct term would be just an elementary school graduate.

In the case of the Poe-Lacson impasse, we really don’t believe any of them will give way to the other. Poe knows that in the polls he is the closest rival of President Macapagal-Arroyo. But Lacson insists that it is Poe who should slide down because his campaign chest continues to grow while Poe’s is shrinking fast.

If neither of them withdraws, the chief beneficiary will be Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as it would split the opposition in two. Lacson summed up the situation with these words: "You can only imagine a ‘Superstar’ (Poe) and a ‘Supercop’ (Lacson) wanting to meet, but ‘Super-ego’s always come into play, and that’s the reason why no Super-happening could happen.’

So both are in a lose-lose situation.

But some elements in the opposition have found a cause to unite them.

It seems as if they have agreed to have a massive demonstration against the President on May 1, which is Labor Day. The plan is to draw a crowd as massive as "People Power II", the EDSA revolt that threw Joseph Estrada out of Malacañang.

The difference is that Estrada was facing impeachment. The group claims that the president has illegally been using government funds to bankroll her candidacy. This is an accusation that should be brought to the proper court and not on the streets.

By May 1, there will be only 10 days left for the elections. It is very obvious that what the group plans is demonstration to cancel the elections. This is because they foresee defeat.

All we want to see is a peaceful, orderly and clean election. We hope that the electorate will choose candidates by their personal qualifications and not by mere po-pularity. But we will respect the results of the elections, meaning the choice of the voters even if it runs counter to our personal choice. That is what democracy is all about.