Panlilios and Padacas electoral victory may be quixotic or likened to a David fighting Goliath but it does not signal the end of traditional politics in their provinces. Pampanga remains Arroyos bailiwick with most of its mayors and congressmen, including son Mikey Arroyo (second district) her henchmen. Among Eds election does not herald politics of change, either. His election still showed the marks of personality politics and charisma which is unlike alternative politics where ideology and program count more, Simbulan opines.
Despite Padacas win, the Dy dynasty remains solid in Isabela. Grandson Faustino Dy III was reelected congressman (3rd district) while Caesar Dy, a son, will continue as mayor of Cauayan.
War against corruption
The two have declared war against jueteng, illegal logging and corruption. In effect, it was a declaration of war against the ruling dynasties. It remains to be seen how far they can wage such a campaign and how far they can muster the support of the town mayors: 22 in Pampanga and 37 in Isabela. Right now, Panlilio continues to receive death threats while a number of his supporters have been gunned down. Last time we heard, Padaca promised to continue her priority program of farm-to-market roads and develop modern fisheries and tourism in the province.
An election may unseat a political lord but it may not necessarily bring down the fiefdom that he represents. Panlilio and Padaca need to paddle through rough waters where the infrastructures of patronage politics as well as jueteng and illegal logging remain strong and threatening.
For change to come in these provinces, leadership should transcend crusades for a clean government and must lock horns with the roots of poverty and social injustice that run deep with peasant struggles rising every now and then only to be quelled with an iron hand by government. For instance, Pampangas dire social and economic conditions have produced bloody struggles for land distribution the most contemporary being the Huk rebellion in the 1950s which led to several peasant massacres perpetrated by government forces and, since the late 1960s, the New Peoples Army (NPA) armed movement.
The province, which used to host the U.S. airbase at Clark in Angeles City, has also hundreds and possibly thousands of people who continue to suffer from the toxic contamination of their communities caused by decades of airbase operations. Clark is still being used by U.S. forces as part of their Balikatan war exercises under the U.S.-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Certainly, it would take more than a moral alternative and religious preaching to be able to take a gutsy position on these issues. The flock should be shepherded into the mass movement for social emancipation that has long taken roots in the province.
Strong mass support
Within the purview of reformist politics, Panlilio and Padaca need a strong mass support for a people-oriented development to take off. But development cannot move without breaking the yoke of landlord power that continues to enslave peasants and makes poverty endemic and without drawing the support of local leaders of whom many still lick the boots of their political patrons and crime lords. To remain true to form, they need to initiate lasting solutions to the basic problems of their constituents while parrying efforts by the traditional politicians to pull them down.
Compared to the feat achieved by Panlilio and Padaca, a different case happened in Davao City. Nenita Orcullo was up against multinational banana companies when she ran for reelection to a council seat in the citys third district. Five months before the May elections, she authored a city ordinance that bans the aerial spraying of pesticides in the citys banana plantations following reports of hazards to human health and the environment.
Reports said the banana companies campaigned against Orcullo using fraud and vote buying. Beaten but undaunted, she warned other councilors against caving in to the companies pressure politics.
Whether in Davao, Pampanga or Isabela powerful interests, be they business or political, still hold sway and danger always lurks whenever one takes the side of the people. It is up to the likes of Among Ed and Grace Padaca to use the power entrusted to them by the electorate solely for advancing the peoples interest. (CenPEG)
2007 Elections, Analysis, Religion
