If lawyer Eddie Barrita quoted Junjun Davide correctly, then the son and namesake of the former chief justice must have said things that are difficult to make heads or tails of. Here are some of them:
1). According to Junjun, President Aquino has vowed not to use government resources to campaign for the candidates of the Liberal Party. This is why, Junjun said, every LP candidate has to be ready to spend for his own campaign.
2). But in the same breath, Junjun added that the Liberal Party is not known to use money and that is because the party does not believe money can be a key factor in achieving victory in an election.
Okay, first we will just have to take Aquino’s word for it that his administration is not going to use government funds to bankroll the campaign of his candidates. After all, who needs government money anyway when campaign donations can take care of the expenses.
It gets a little tricky, however, when Junjun went on to say the Liberal Party is not in the habit of using money to campaign and that money, in fact, is not a factor in an election. It gets tricky because did not Junjun just say LP candidates must be ready to spend for their own?
If Junjun is saying the Liberal Party is not in the habit of using money to campaign and does not think it is a factor in winning an election, how come he is also saying that candidates of the LP have to be ready to spend their own because Aquino is not giving them government money?
Junjun is running for governor, the highest elective position in the premier province of Cebu. It is a position that requires preciseness of language, not ambiguity. The governor of a province cannot say one thing and mean another.
This early, therefore, Junjun needs to be clear about the things he wishes to convey to the Cebuanos in order for him to win their votes, with or without money. Cebuanos, on the other hand, need to be alert to what the candidates say, lest they make a very costly mistake.
A candidate who cannot make himself clear in the campaign can become more confusing if he wins office, where the pressures will be greater, and clarity of purpose and direction are a must if the leader has to take us somewhere.