Is there a bandwagon for Sara Duterte?

By Herbert Vego

HAPPY days are here again for the commercial pollsters, assuming they stand to amass a windfall from unbelievable surveys hailing the President’s daughter, Sara Duterte Carpio, as the top runner in the May 9, 2022 presidential derby. To think that she has not yet decided to run…

She had to be compelled by a bandwagon in order to decide on running for the position to be vacated by her father. Now, is there such a compelling force?

Obviously no. Even the governors and mayors pledging loyalty to President Duterte have opted to keep their lips sealed as regards the streamers urging “Run Sara Run” as posted in conspicuous locations nationwide.

Pulse Asia – as if to confirm the early-bird-catches-the-worm proverb – did the earliest survey allegedly conducted on November  23 to December 2, 2020, which showed that 26 percent of Filipinos would prefer Sara over five other possible presidentiables.

False, err Pulse Asia, found a competition in a new group of mind-conditioners known as the OCTA Research Team, which also declared Sara “No. 1” with a lower 22 percent, based kuno on its “non-commissioned survey” done from January 26 to February 1, 2021.

Pulse Asia outdid OCTA with another survey on Feb. 22 to March 3, this time giving Sara 27 percent.

Coming soon: a similar one from the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

I would rather not elaborate, knowing that such surveys were paid and meant to keep Vice-President Leni Robredo at the tail-end.

Who could have believed Pulse Asia and SWS when they both lauded the President for scoring a popularity rating of 91 percent amid the pandemic?

Would the entry of newcomer OCTA Research as the third “cheerer” paint a believable lie on the President’s daughter?

Winning would not be a walk in the park for Sara and her Hugpong ng Pagbabago party.  What if her dad fails to prevent his allies, inside and outside his PDP-Laban camp, from running, too? Sen. Manny Pacquiao, whom he had called “president to be” in a public forum, seems already bent on running. Two or three of them facing the presumed lone opposition candidate Leni Robredo could tip the scale heavily in the latter’s favor.  That is, assuming Smartmatic and the Comelec do not do another “seven-hour glitch.”

The chance of Pres. Duterte becoming his daughter’s running mate for vice-president is as unlikely. Since the Constitution prohibits a past president from assuming the presidency,  it could be interpreted to mean that the elected vice-president, being a “reserve” in case of presidential vacancy, could not take over.

But if she becomes his successor, he would still worry over the International Criminal Court (ICC) breathing down his neck for alleged “extra-judicial killings” and other human rights violations.

That and his passive stand vis-à-vis Chinese intrusion at the West Philippine Sea, could be the biggest obstacles to the lady’s political ambition.

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TO DOH: CARE, DON’T SCARE

WE wish Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire of the Department of Health (DOH) would be more circumspect in breaking scary opinions about Covid-19 cases.  A news report recently quoted her as saying that the Delta variant from India is 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom.  She added that while an Alpha-positive person could infect four to five persons, a Delta-positive could infect eight.

I am afraid that is open to criticism, since she cited no verifiable statistics. Common sense tells us that the rate of infection does not depend on which variant but on exposure to whichever variant.

The DOH could also have found a “silver lining” in the fact that most of the Covid-positive cases, reportedly 61 percent, are asymptomatic.  Why have they not made a study on whether this accounts for low fatality rate?  They could not even explain how an asymptomatic patient — having no cough, no running nose and no fever — could transmit infection.

The odds are still highly in favor of survival. At the time this was being written, our region has a record of 60,178 cases, of which only 1,365 or around 2.3 percent have died.

A piece of advice to the Covid-positive: Think positive while undergoing treatment.  Stress and anxiety could be more fatal than Covid itself.

(Numerous studies have already proven that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be spread via aerosol transmission. Even asymptomatic persons can still spread the virus, especially when they simply talk, laugh, or shout. The World Health Organization has explained how the virus can be transmitted: https://www.who.int/vietnam/news/detail/14-07-2020-q-a-how-is-covid-19-transmitted. – Editor)

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LAW OF KARMA?

IN a chance meeting, Iloilo City councilor Rommel Duron told this writer that, contrary to what I had written, it’s not only P51 million that Panay Electric Co. (PECO) owes City Hall for reneging on payment of franchise taxes in 2019.

“It has hit P90 million-plus because of interest and penalty,” Duron said.

I was saying in a previous column that while PECO stands to collect almost P482 million in “just compensation” from MORE Power, which had taken over the distribution utility in accordance with the law (RA 11212), that might even not be enough to settle its obligations.

I remembered that PECO is the respondent in a P630-million class suit for overbilling. In fact, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) had long ago ordered the now-defunct company to refund the same amount to claimants. Has that order fallen on deaf ears?

In retrospect, it is apparent that PECO’s refusal to pay its payables figured prominently in Congress’ decision to junk its application for renewal of its 25-year franchise, and to award the franchise to MORE Power instead.

Are we seeing the law of karma, Atty Hector?