It is a strange phenomenon in our country today, that in any province, city or town, the one holding the reins of government are not necessarily the most brilliant or the most brainy. The ones monopolizing political power are usually the ruling economic elite who controls the businesses, industries and trading in the area or region. Or it may be the fronts of the gambling lords, the political warlords, or worse, the drug lords. The ones dominating the political landscapes are those who have the stomach for the dirty games of trapo politics.
The really competent prospective leaders, those who are eminently qualified to lead with competence and integrity, tend to shy away becuase they know that they can not win in a dirty contest of schemes, scams and cheap plastic pretentions.The poltical warfares in today's context are dominated by Rasputins and Machiavellis. Those who have the genuine sense of decency and dignity do not want to dirty their hands in the muddy world of Philippine politics. The really good Filipinos shy away from any political exercise. It is not their cup of tea.
Those who are pressured to run in the mold of Leni Robredo is bound to be beaten badly by such expert players as Chiz Escudero who knows his marbles in politics. Escudero has developed the keen sense of being able to detect where the winds of political opportunism are blowing. It was Escudero who engineered the unexpected victory of Jojo Binay in 2010 against an unsuspecting, rather naive Mar Roxas. Escudero, while projecting to work for the PNoy-Roxas tandem, surreptitiously formed the NoyBi combination at the back of Mar Roxas.
That might have been the reason why Mayor Rudy Duterte refused to run. For Digong is wiser than Leny Robredo. He knows deep in his heart and mind that the coming elections will not be honest. The 2016 polls will not be decided on the basis of qualifications and platforms. The polls will be decided again on who has more money to buy votes, who has more guns with which to terrorize voters, and who have more connections with election officials to manipulate election results. Rudy is too decent to dirty his hands. And so, he said no, and refused to be pressured by sychophants and scheming manipulators.
The pure and the immaculate men and women would rather stay away from politics because the playing fields are not level. There were many good Filipinos who tried but miserably failed. Even Richard Gordon was beaten by Tito Sotto. Such decent men like Magsaysay was beaten by Lito Lapid. How then can we attract the best brains, the most honest, the most competent when the political arena is being dominated by scalawags, scoundrels and morons. Of course, it can be argued that evil triumps when good men do nothing. But is very difficult to win over the evil one.
It is difficult to have such men as Jessie Robredo, Jose W Diokno, Lorenzo Tanada and perhaps, our very own Chief Justice Hilario G Davide Jr. It is good that the good father has produced a very good son, the incumbent governor of the province. He is quite shy, lacking in aggressiveness so unlike his opponent. But Governor Junjun has remained unimpeachable in his character. He is a true leader because he inspires people even in his low-key, silent and unpretentious, natural and spontaneous ways. I hope that he shall not lose hope and stay in politics.