EDITORIAL - The ties that bind

At this very moment, there are two raging political controversies involving two political families whose names not only begin with the same letter of the alphabet but who could possibly be related to each other. In addition, their localities also begin with the same letter.

The two political families currently in the limelight are the Duranos of Danao City and the Dutertes of Davao City. The Dutertes claim to be originally from Cebu. The matriarch of the Duranos, Beatriz, was a Duterte.

Interestingly, the controversies imbroiling both the Duranos and the Dutertes involve political power. Two Durano siblings are fighting for political control of Danao city. In Davao City, the Dutertes are firmly in control and would subdue anyone, even with violence.

Violence, of course, is not alien to the Duranos. Cebu's political history has been amply spiced up with gripping tales of violence, real or imagined, that involve the Duranos directly or indirectly.

Having assumed the possibility that the Duranos and the Dutertes are indeed related, the likelihood that everything that had been enumerated here so far had been mere coincidences begins to shed its strangeness.

If the two families are in fact related, then that would explain a lot of things, not the least of which is the great passion for power, and the great lengths to which members of either family would go to acquire and exercise it.

On the Durano side, there is no such thing as brotherly accommodation when it comes to politics. The political history of Danao City has seen such spectacles as brother going against brother, father against son, and son against mother.

As for the Dutertes, "nobody is to be left behind" as they are all on the same side. If a daughter punches somebody, the father explains it away. If it is daddy who gets punched, he will not hesitate "to shoot" his attacker. If daddy throws a dirty finger, so does the son.

Some would describe these characteristics as "in the blood" and therefore cannot be helped. Others would label them as in keeping with established reputation and therefore willfully sustained. Either way, these are issues of leadership that can command fear but not respect.