Following Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s show of magnanimity in victory and the equally gracious concessions of Sen. Grace Poe and Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas, candidates in Cebu who either won or lost showed that they weren’t all lacking in grace as well.
Among them was One Cebu gubernatorial candidate Winston Garcia who congratulated incumbent Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III even if the votes in Santander, Cordova and Malabuyoc towns have yet to be counted.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) regional office said the votes can still change the final outcome of the gubernatorial race, and they may be right, but with two of the three towns said to be bailiwicks of the LP and Cordova having a small population, Garcia may have deemed the contest over for him.
In Mandaue City, Councilor Lolypop Ouano-Dizon conceded to Mandaue City Mayor-elect Luigi Quisumbing following an intense, even vicious campaign period in which both sides accused each other of employing dirty tactics.
In both cases, the One Cebu candidates even pledged to support the incoming administrations, a gesture that was not lost and even appreciated by their rivals. We can only hope that others follow suit.
Protests and prolonged occupations of government offices would not only drain resources but also foster a polarizing, hostile and uncertain climate over the affected local government unit.
The experiences in Tudela town, which had three people claiming to be mayor, and Compostela town in which the mayor, vice mayor and the entire town council were prevented from occupying their posts by a disgruntled mayor, are political nightmare scenarios that should be avoided at all costs.
But ask any losing candidate and chances are, it is difficult if not outright impossible to unseat an elected official with a questionable mandate.
Just ask Tining Martinez, who only had a few months to serve a congressional term that was mostly used up by reelectionist Rep. Benhur Salimbangon of Cebu’s fourth district.
Thus it is no small sacrifice or feat for any candidate to concede defeat. Poe can afford to lose because she still has three years left in her term as senator while Roxas isn’t exactly indigent.
Then there are those like Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña who doesn’t bother with such niceties and is only too eager to reoccupy City Hall and unseat his erstwhile protege and undo what he calls his protege’s mistakes.
In the heat of the campaign period, it is refreshing to see these displays of magnanimity in victory and grace in defeat, and hopefully it would reverberate among Filipino candidates and disprove the notion that there are no losers in Philippine elections, only candidates who claim to be cheated.
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