I wrote this article while waiting for the live streaming of President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation, an event which he said he will not attend.
Skipping his own proclamation as the country’s 16th President, Digong told news reporters in Davao last Sunday that he would rather spend his time wrapping up things as Davao City mayor than attend the age-old ceremony. The excuse sounds reasonable but I think not enough to shun a tradition that formally ushers the beginning of a new administration catapulted to power by grassroots organizations through social media.
Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives convene in a joint session to formally receive and approve the official canvassing report of the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC). Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte jointly proclaim Duterte and Leni Robredo as winners in the presidential and VP elections, respectively, and raise their hands in a symbolic gesture of their victory at the polls.
What follows is plenty of socializing with the diplomatic corps, heads of different churches, business leaders and other prominent personages representing national and international bodies, not to mention politicians of all stripes, most of them converted to the new party in power, the PDP-Laban, who have already sworn fealty to the new regime.
Digong heaped scorn on turncoats during a campaign sortie in Tagbilaran City, calling them unggoys (monkeys). I wonder if this is the real reason why he did not show up. He hates the plastikan that comes with political backslapping.
Rep. Leni Robredo’s proclamation minus Digong highlights perceptions that the incoming President has not forgotten Leni’s reported statements in mainstream and social media issued in the heat of the campaign, that she will resign as VP if Duterte becomes president
As we know, the statements became viral and although she denied having made those statements, we can’t really know for sure if Digong took it seriously. Another perception that sticks out of this controversy is Digong’s standpoint with respect to burying former President Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, this despite strident objections from anti-Marcos groups identified with the Liberal Party.
I will not be surprised if many will think Digong skipped the party because he doesn’t want to be in the same stage as Leni’s. In itself, it will not escape speculations that he is sympathetic to defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos who is questioning the election of Leni Robredo.
Bongbong is poised to file legal cases and protest actions against Comelec and Smartmatic officials amid claims of electoral fraud reminiscent of dagdag-bawas.
Allegations of poll data manipulation has hogged national headlines since the 2010 national elections, but nothing came out of the electoral protest lodged by defeated candidates, like Mar Roxas who lost to Jejomar Binay in the 2010 VP race. There were many other poll bets who cried electronic fraud but were unable to pursue their cases for lack of resources, like congressional bet Glenn Chiong of Biliran province.
Chiong is an IT expert who has made it his personal crusade to educate people and make them aware about “fraud mediated by technology” in the words of Professor Antonio Contreras. Contreras is a political scientist and math expert of the De La Salle University who, like Chiong and Professor David Yap, instructor of Mathematical Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, questions the election of Leni Robredo.
The electoral cases to be filed by Bongbong is a boon for many people who claim to have been robbed of their electoral victory in the first automated elections of 2010 because he has all the resources to see this through.
According to well-informed sources, pursuing an election case is akin to waging a national campaign, wherein the candidate sets aside P3 per voter. Assuming there are 50 million voters, the figure would be around P150 million. In an election protest, the dynamics are different such that the cap of P3 per voter is no longer enough. I’m told Bongbong would need to shell out anywhere from P250 million to P500 million to arrive at the truth he is seeking.
Even if the figure is doubled, that would be loose change to what the family has amassed during the more than two decades of the Marcos rule, said to be a total of $5 billion.