On April 26, P/Cpl Ramon Lahaylahay and Pat Vhrandon Lee Palitayan of Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) Precinct Station 4 under supervision of PCPT Julius B. Luis, joined clean-up activity at Bued River basin and tributaries, part of the city’s “Salaknib ti Waig” program. Precinct Station 8 also joined the clean-up.
Last April 25, very heartwarming seeing Pat Joan Cudao and P/Lt. Erwin Dapiowon of BCPO Station 4, together with Regional Community Affairs Development Division, Police Regional Office – Cordillera (RCADD-PRO-Cor), Joan Bae, Regional Special Training Unit, Philippine National Police Training School RSTU-PNPTS) and Regional Police Strategy Management Unit (RPSMU) engage youth members at Gabriela Silang barangay on right manners and conduct.
To all candidates running for elective positions, Ah Kong fervently says, “I wish thee success; may the blessing wait upon thee and may your petitions before the electorate be granted!”
There are 174 individuals who filed their certificates of candidacy in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Region 1.
In Baguio City, there are five candidates for the office of the congressman, 9 for the office of the mayor, 6 for vice-mayors and 54 for city councilors.
In Benguet, 30 individuals filed their candidacy.
In other places in CAR and Region 1, hundreds just as well, filed their candidacy.
Election day is around the bed. May 13 will be the crunch time for registered voters to choose who will eventually sit and who will not.
One of the most difficult decisions in political life is judiciously observing pulses in the political arena throbbed by the electorate, to avoid being thrown in defeat by running against the wind.
Any politically-minded person qualified can file his/her candidacy. The bottom line is: Is his/her assumption to win correct, based on observation of the electorate pulse? In other words, is he/she winnable?
Every political candidate, at some point in his/her career faces the decision of filing their candidacy with the assumption that they have a good chance of winning.
And often, to those many, such an assumption falls far short of expectation.
After all were said and done on the campaign trail, after all the posters posted here, there and everywhere, after all the police having done its work of pulling down posters where they’re not supposed to be, after all numerous handshakes, lopsided smiles and grins, the candidates’ ultimate fate lie in the hands of the voting public – with the stroke of the mighty pen.
One aspect we gotta praise all candidates is their being magicians. Because when you have removed their posters tacked on your house, door or gate, oho! Tomorrow, those posters are back again.
Also, Ah had witnessed events when even political aspirants went to the pains of accompanying voters who visit their dead loved ones in cemeteries, if only to win sure votes. This happened long time ago to Ah’s pren (we will simply identify him as Juan) who accompanied Pedro to the cemetery. Pedro for a long time never visited his cousin’s grave.
Juan: “Pedro, sigurado ka nga daytoy ti puntod diay kasinsin mo nga ni Ramon?”
Pedro: “Wen, sure nak.”
Juan: Kasanu nga sigurado ka ket beinte a tawen di ka met nagdal-dalaw ditoy sementeryu?”
Pedro: “Juan, kitam ti nakasurat, R.I.P.”
Juan: “Ket anya kuma kayat na ibaga dayta R.I.P., ngay?”
Pedro: “Ramon, Insan ni Pedro!
In other words, kasla kastoy ti kuna ni apo kandidato kadagiti botante: “Apoh botante, kadagiti imam, yawat ko ti masakbayak.”
Some kill-joy voters have been heard by Ah with this retort, “Ama, pakawanem ida, ta sadakam la am-ammo nu dumteng panag-kakampanya!”
Ah, in his travels to remote barrios in CAR and in Region 1, often heard this comment: “Ayna, bilib ka met anya, ditoy sulsulenek a lugar mi, agas ken libro, saan a makadanon, ngem dagiti poster ti politico, dagos a makadandanon.”
It’s up to you, reader, to take in stride such observation of the rural folks living in our remote parts as regards the above.
As for Ah, he says, such flying voters, este, posters are flying posters because these have wings that can easily fly to hard-to-reach areas.
Come May 13, Election day, Ah is willing to bet the only kamiseta on his back that many candidates out there will be having fits of “kebba-kebba ti barukong nga agkurba-kurba.”
Ket idiay sulsulenek ti panunot da, ayna mamati ka, kabsat, pirme ti arasaas ti luwalo da nga mangabak da kuma nga “ayna Apo, mangabak nak kuma.”
But for candidates imploring divine intervention for them to win would be a mathematical wonder! If God wills it that all candidates win, as implored by prayers of candidates, then the total number of votes cast will have to be even numbers, not odd. Impossible, to say the least.
But then, God the Almighty, who is no politician himself, incapable of crafting a political speech that can sway the minds of voters and being only be an observer this May 13, wags his head in wonder and saying to St. Peter, (Guardian of the Pearly Gates) “Umay ka ketdin Peter, ta agbuya ta TV, ta kitan ta nu assinnu ti mangabak nga kandidato idiay Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) ken idiay Region 1. Ken pakialam diay sangka platito nga mani ta adda ngalngalngalen ta habang ag-buya ta ti TV.”
Sure as the sun rises from the east and dips on the west, on the day of counting, no candidate will ever accept they have kebab-kebba in their barukong. They will put up an image of calm and will all be smiles while ballots are being counted.
But there are candidates, who, by surveying trend of the counting as it goes on, will know by hind sight that they are being left behind and the chapter of political life is closing down, maybe temporarily.
On the other hand, too, are the die-hard fans of candidates, who will also have kebba-kebba ti barukong, hoping against all odds that their bets will win.
They will be in the polling polls, jam-packed, hungry as ever for developments.
Their kebab-kebba ti barukong is even more pronounced than the candidates, because these supporters will try their hardest to convince you that the candidate/s they support is/are the anointed ones who will deliver us from our ills and problems.
One does not have to guess there are some who really takes politics too hard, to the point ta uray isu pay gapu ti mapan da maki-sung-sungbatan.
Still of all the areas that stand out as unique in its view on politics is the city of Baguio.
Probably, it’s in this mountain city redoubt where you see would-be-politicians from differing parties rubbing elbows in major thoroughfares, meetings, election campaigns, etc., and drinking coffee, tea, whatever and slapping jokes.
Would-be-politicians in Baguio, if they loss in a campaign, take it like guys in sports, for there will be another next time. For political campaign is just like PROMO. The more entry, the more chances to win.
Unlike this pren of Ah (we’ll not name him) who after running for a political post, lost, got drunk and became despondent. Happened this way:
Unidentified pren of Ah: “Ag-suicide nak lattan Ah, total naabak nak met laeng.” He went near a window in their tall house and tried opening it.
Ah: He got hold of the telephone, dialed and said, “Maintenance, mangibaon kayo man ti repairman ditoy. . . (giving the address).”
Maintenance asked,” Apay nga repairman ti kasapulan yu, apoh?”
Ah: “Ngamin daytoy bintana saan nga malukatan.”
By the rivers of their memories flowing gently on their minds, those candidates who failed to make it will try again come next election time – to lose again, or ultimately win a coveted post.
Next time around, such candidates will swear to themselves, they will be more eloquent in their speeches before the “entablado” to convince the voters.
After all, it’s worth the kebba-kebba ti barukong, to the point of acquiring shooting blood pressures.
On May 13, Ah, greatest ignoramus the world has ever seen, will make a prediction no scholar, philosopher or scientist can dispute.
Ah’s two predictions: At the close of the day of May 13, there will be candidates dizzily waltzing on the tip of their toenails for V-Day (Victory Day) is theirs. On the other hand, there will be others who, unfortunately, will go down in defeat, or D-Day.
