NOT
EXACTLY the X – as in mysterious – having been publicly announced, but the no-less
magical, indeed, material factor that spelled the difference in the Angeles
City mayoralty race was the Iglesia ni Cristo vote.
All
one needs is a quick look at the numbers. Winner Pogi Lazatin posted 59,192
votes, runner-up Bryan Nepomuceno had 45,711. The difference of 13,481
corresponded closely to the vaunted, if approximated, 13,000 to 15,000 INC bloc
votes.
Thereby
reinforced anew the long, long held belief, aye, a political dogma, that no
one, absolutely no one could ever be elected Angeles City mayor without the INC
anointment.
A
city council seat though is a different story. The always-non-anointed Amos
Rivera has consistently won. And the now-unblessed Jay Sangil still made it.
While
not so “potently decisive” as in AC, the INC factor in the City of San Fernando
did add up to the numbers of incumbent Mayor Edwin Santiago at 74,125 – not
exactly serving as some loose change, with Vilma Caluag managing 52,225.
It
was in the vice mayoralty race that the INC ballots played a pivotal role. Taken
out of Jimmy Lazatin’s winning 66,277, the sect’s bloc votes would have had Angie
Hizon won with her base votes of 56,264. The 10,000-gap easily bridged with the
voting kapatid in the capital city.
Tiger
As
in AC, so in CSFP, and more spectacularly so. INC-unchosen BJ Tiger Lagman
topped the council race, leading his closest pursuer by 6,213 votes and the tailender
in the Magic 10 by 21,503 votes, with the two included in the INC ballot. The
other Lagman candidate that the INC blessed did land in the winning circle, 17,156
votes behind BJ.
Not
a single Iglesia vote and Lagman still managed to score 70,978! Some rethink is
imperative here for political strategists – as much on the efficacy, if not the
actual strength of the INC bloc, as in the emergence of a shining nova in the
city’s political firmament.
What
eluded his father Ely the Tiger – the unbeatable vice mayor but the best mayor
San Fernando never had – could well be opening up for BJ, grandly.
The
ambivalence, okay, uncertainty of the INC votes is perhaps best exampled in the
1st District of Pampanga.
With
the INC support, Coach Yeng Guiao won the congressional contest of 2013 against
former Rep. Blueboy Nepomuceno.
Without
the INC vote, Guiao lost his seat in 2016 to Rep. Jonjon Lazatin.
With
the INC again backing him in the return bout in the polls just past, Guiao lost
again – 149,398 to 104,796 – swept in all two cities and one town of the
district.
Rimpy
In
the 4th District congressional polls, ruling Rep. Rimpy Bondoc
appears to have been immunized from the INC vote.
As
in his fight against former Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo in 2010, so in his
battle against former board member Ric Yabut in 2019 – Rimpy annihilating his INC-backed
rivals.
Speaking
of Candaba, former Mayor Rene Maglanque made a stunning comeback against the
INC-anointed incumbent Mayor Dan Baylon.
The
INC votes likewise failed to launch Vice Mayor Dexter David to the mayorship of
Porac, and to keep incumbent Sto. Tomas Mayor Johnny Sambo in his post. The
latter losing by a little over 100 votes to VM Gloria “Ninang” Ronquillo who
crafted history as the first lady mayor of Pampanga’s smallest town of only
seven barangays.
The
inefficacy of the INC votes in the 2019 polls was most pronounced in Mabalacat
City.
The
already formidable tandem of VM Christian Halili and once-forever-mayor Marino “Boking”
Morales in reversed roles was even made more invincible – on paper – with the
anointment of the INC.
Garbo
Why
a plus-10,000 for incumbent Mayor Cris Garbo was reported to have been proffered
by some oddsmakers, with nobody biting. Convinced – seemingly – as the voting
public was of his opponents’ vaunted invincibility.
Stunning
thus came the report of Garbo (at 52,517) trouncing Halili (at 34,694) by 17,823
votes.
Neither
stunned nor even surprised though were those in the know. Ranged against his
rival’s INC bloc, Garbo earned the “solid” support of the Born-Again
evangelicals and fundamentalists, as well as what little of the so-called conservative
Catholic vote. An even greater entity going Garbo all the way is the
patriarchal “INT.” Don’t ask me what it means, else I blaspheme and go excommunicado.
Boking
As
bitter, aye, bitterest, as it can ever get, the Mabalacat City outcome for one
man.
In
the 2016 local elections, he garnered 39,919 votes, more than the combined total
of his three rivals – the closest at 17,553, the next at 10,696, and the last
at 5,750.
In
the polls just past, he managed 30,022 – still winnable by the 2016 standards.
However, he had just one opponent this time, getting 52,509 votes.
In
less than two years after his Comelec-ted eviction from the Mabalacat City
hall, once eternal mayor Boking Morales got
the worst drubbing of his political life, the pain of losing by landslide
exacerbated by at least two factors: 1) that it was inflicted by his own nephew;
2) the prize at stake was only the vice-mayoralty,
below Boking’s stature of hizzoner for 22 years.
Maybe,
the electorate just got tired of Boking. But then, someone who looked like his go-to-guy
Deng Pangilinan cried: Pang-mayor lang
si Boking. Hindi pang-vice.
Yeah,
I remember then-vice mayor Boking lost too in his first attempt at the mayorship
in 1992, despite INC backing. He won all elections since with the INC. Now
losing anew, still with the INC.
Gone
full circle there, as much for Boking as for the INC. Whence, a new beginning
evolving.
Yeah,
this epic loss notwithstanding, it is too premature to write finis to Boking. And the INC vote too.
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