What happens if Digong runs for senator in 2028?

If I were the strategist for the Dutertes, I would make him lead the DDS senatorial slate in 2028. I am sure he will top the race, getting more votes than Raffy Tulfo, Alan Cayetano, or Mark Villar. Although you and I may not vote for him, Digong is sure to win. The voters love underdogs, especially those in detention.

Digong is qualified. He is a Filipino citizen. He is not a convicted felon, and he enjoys the presumption of innocence while on trial in The Hague. Residence, according to the prevailing jurisprudence is not physical presence but the intent to come home, which is being denied of him. To him, he was forcibly taken away from his country and it is not his will that he could not be around.

As to residence, the matter has already been settled by the Supreme Court. Imelda Marcos was allowed to run as representative of Leyte's 1st District. Montejo, the incumbent and a successful lawyer in Tacloban, protested against her candidacy because all the previous years, the Marcoses, including Imelda, lived in Hawaii in exile after the EDSA revolt. But the Supreme Court allowed her to run because she alleged that she always had the intention to go home to Tolosa and Tacloban, although the Marcoses have no house there.

Imelda was also allowed to run as a multi-termed representative of Ilocos Norte's 1st District, the same district where Mariano Marcos (FM's father): ran against the late Julio Nalundasan. It is also the same district where both BBM and Imee ran and won a number of times. It is now being represented by Sandro Araneta Marcos, the anointed son of BBM. And so, residence is not a problem. What is good for the Marcoses is good for Duterte.

As to being in prison, Ninoy Aquino was allowed to run for the Batasang Pambansa while he was being detained in Fort Bonifacio. Of course, he was beaten by Imelda and her team. But the question of residence and being in detention are already settled jurisprudence. And so, if Digong runs in 2028, that will be another jurisprudence as the BBM legal panel will surely question his eligibility for suffrage while being tried in The Hague.

I will not vote for him but Digong will top the senatorial contest. My vote will not matter. He will have more votes than Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, JV Ejercito, and even Robin Padilla, and Philip Salvador. In the Philippines, the voters do not care whether you are good, bad or ugly. They even voted for ex-convicts and for those already tried for plunder.

As long as they like you, the issues do not really matter to them. I do not like that, but I am nothing in a nation of people who do not think like I do. In democracy, the choice is not made by those who are right, but by those who are popular.