No 'Chiz' in May 2010 presidential elections
Published: November 23, 2009 | Author: Beting Laygo Dolor
Total Views: 760 | Rating:
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Published: November 23, 2009 | Author: Beting Laygo Dolor
Total Views: 760 | Rating:
MANILA – Now is not his time.
Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero will no longer run for president, at least not this year. Escudero announced in a press conference Tuesday (Manila time) that his presidential plans would have to take the back seat. He also denied that he would instead seek thevice presidency as an independent.
In resigning from the Nationalist People’s Coalition on the day he was expected to announce that he was officially seeking to be the party’s presidential standard bearer last month, Escudero produced the second biggest bombshell in Philippine politics this year.
The first was the unexpected entry of Senator Noynoy Aquino and his subsequent rise to the top of the heap of the presidential candidates.
At 40, Escudero would have been the youngest of the 2010 presidential bets. The youthful senator will now pursue his dream of becoming president in 2016. Maybe even 2022.
Time is certainly on his side. But it remains to be seen whether his quitting the NPC was a smart move or a fatal blunder.
Before the entry of Aquino, the May 2010 presidential elections was widely believed to be a three-way race between Manny Villarof the Nacionalista Party, Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party and Escudero of the NPC.
The three oppositionists were performing well in the surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia, the country’s top two survey firms. Villar was consistently the front runner, but his lead over either Roxas or Escudero was far from insurmountable.
Other candidates such as former President Joseph Estrada or Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro were considered long shots. The senator called Chiz was considered raw, but ready. After all, didn’t the Americans elect a 40-something president just last year?
Escudero’s youth is his strength. Six years from now, he will still be younger than any of today’s presidential candidates.
The fast-talking lawyer from the University of the Philippines possesses an easy smile and boy-next-door charm that resonates with voters, young and old. In the May 2007 senatorial elections, he placed a close second to partymate Loren Legarda, who was widely expected to be his running mate in the NPC in next year’s polls.
Legarda is still running – again, after losing to Noli de Castro in the 2004 vice presidential derby – but as “guest” running mate of the NP’s Villar.
Running for president as an independent is generally considered to be impractical with chances of winning practically non-existent. Not just for Escudero, but for any candidate. It is one thing to run for senator without a party and win – Magnolia Antonino did it in the ‘60s as a substitute candidate for her husband who died in a helicopter crash while campaigning – but quite another to run for president and emerge victorious.
The only time an independent candidate running for president was given even the slightest chance of winning was when former matinee idol Rogelio dela Rosa tried it in 1961. He quit the race when he ran out of funds, instead endorsing eventual winnerDiosdado Macapagal.
Escudero had not backed down from the race in deference to his young followers who see in him the necessary break from the old school, partisan politics of the past. But he knew that the odds were stacked against him.
Philippine politics is different from US politics in that a candidate who runs for president and loses will get no second chance. Or so goes conventional political wisdom. Unlike a Richard Nixon who famously lost to John F. Kennedy but who came back to win the US presidency on his second try, the Philippine electorate is not as forgiving. Miriam Defensor Santiago placed a close second toFidel Ramos when the two faced off in 1992, but by 1998 when she ran again, her millions of admirers had abandoned her.
Political analysts say that Escudero’s quitting the NPC which had been grooming him to be their presidential bet in 2010 showed a lack of maturity on his part. His resignation was perceived as a rash, emotional decision – traits unbecoming of a future president. His legions of fans and followers, however, say that Escudero’s move showed he was clearly a man of principle, someone who refused to engage in backroom horse trading so common in Philippine politics.
Escudero has never given the reason for his leaving his party, or given the details of the meeting he had with party founder and patriarch Danding Cojuangco the night before he resigned.
What is clear is that in so doing, he has placed himself at a crossroads. Where he goes from here will now depend on his own actions, rather than the party which he had been part of since his political career began.
With the luxury of having a lot more time on his side than any other candidate, the boy wonder of Philippine politics can choose to move quickly, or take more calculate moves to reach his ultimate goal.
Comments
N.Salvador said,
November 28, 2009 at 00:12:22:41 AM
Escudero knows his limit, and decide accordingly.I hope he will support the candidates who is honest who is committed for the welfare of the constituent and not his own welfare.