Cebuanos are not cheats, Grace Poe

Grace Poe, who mentions no other qualification in her bid for the Senate except her being the daughter of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., may just have blown her chance to become one, at least in Cebu.

At a recent rally in Cebu, whose 2.5 million-plus registered voters make it number one among all provinces, Poe said her father, who ran for president in 2004 against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, lost in Cebu due to massive cheating.

Either Poe is ignorant of the facts and was just shooting from the hip, or she has a very low regard for the Cebuanos, in which case she clearly does not deserve the coveted Cebuano vote that everyone else, including the president, is trying so hard to get.

Poe’s father was not cheated out of victory in Cebu because there simply was no cheating. Period. Arroyo did not cheat in Cebu. If she cheated elsewhere, there was no need for her to do so in Cebu. In Cebu, Arroyo had all the local officials on her side.

On the other hand, Poe’s father had neither the machinery nor the money to wage a decent campaign in Cebu. As early as several months before the election, the allies and candidates of Poe’s father already conceded defeat, a fact Poe could have researched and be enlightened about.

Aside from sorely lacking machinery and money, Poe’s father also suffered a surprising handicap that, in other parts of the country, can be considered as a very valuable asset — that of being a movie star.

Cebuanos, for the information of Poe, are not swayed by movie stardom as a qualification to public office. Joseph Estrada, the best friend of Poe’s father, lost badly in Cebu. That fact should have tempered Poe’s scathing and hurtful accusation about cheating in Cebu.

But Poe, aside from having absolutely no other qualification to be a senator except her being the daughter of a movie star (otherwise, she should be harping about that too), at the same time suffers from an unwillingness to know about the place and its people when she campaigns.

Had she done even a simple googling, she would have discovered that much of what she said are simply not supported by facts. She would have found out, for instance, that Tagalog movies, of which her father was a big part of, are not exactly that hot in Cebu.

Poe could have checked out the records of cineplexes in the malls and found out that English movies outnumber Tagalog ones 10 to one, whether in frequency of showings or in actual paid attendance. In other words, you cannot hack it in Cebu merely by being a star.

And that is why Poe just did herself and her campaign a very bad and disastrous turn by claiming her father was cheated out of victory in Cebu. Now that the Cebuanos have been insulted by her baseless accusations, she is now a marked candidate for their ire.

If there is one lesson Poe can learn from her Cebu debacle which she can turn into her advantage in some other endeavor except a run for public office that requires more appropriate qualifications, it is in knowing whereof she speaks first.

The beauty about making accusations is that the same can be reversed. Poe believes her father lost in Cebu because he was cheated. How about Poe herself winning because of cheating? Would that be an acceptable proposition for as long as she wins?

If Poe finds herself in another situation in which the trust of Cebuanos is demanded, she first must do a little research on the place and its people. Cebuanos are very easy and friendly. All you have to do is be honest with them. And never accuse them of something they did not do.