The demolition campaign against Jojo Binay has begun in earnest. Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes have apparently mounted their own efforts, parallel to those of Mar Roxas and the Liberal Party, to erode the high approval and voter preference rating of Binay. Their latest thrust is to call for a Senate investigation of allegations of corruption on the part of the Binay clan.
Cayetano, who has been making loud noises about being a paragon of honesty and integrity and contrasting himself with Binay, has ranked near the bottom, along with Roxas, in recent Pulse Asia and SWS surveys on voter preference among prospective presidential candidates. Since Cayetano started banging away at Binay, his ranking has not improved, which should make him wonder if his political consultants are giving him the right advice. What’s worse, recent findings by the Commission on Audit, as well as the testimony of Pork Barrel Queen Napoles, may tarnish Cayetano’s image.
Whether or not Trillanes will gain any brownie points from joining in the Destroy Binay Brigade is still undetermined. In the last senatorial elections, he finished 9th while Nancy Binay, despite being virtually raked over live coals in social media and among the self-proclaimed intelligentsia, ranked 5th. , She outdid Trillanes by almost 2 million votes.
Roxas, Cayetano and Trillanes probably believe that attacking Binay is the way to boost their stock in the eyes of the voting public. Their political consultants might have pointed out what happened to Manny Villar in the 2010 presidential contest. They probably think they can apply the tactic for 2016.
If you recall, Manny Villar was riding high in the public opinion polls in the months leading to the elections, having nursed his image and generated high name recall well before the official Comelec-sanctioned election campaign period. But when Noynoy Aquino was drafted, following the death of Cory Aquino, Villar suddenly found himself in a tight race against the new contender.
According to political analysts, what effectively eroded Villar’s stock was the label, Villarroyo, a mischievous linking of his name to that of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who had been cast by civil society and the media as the Evil Witch of Philippine politics.
The Villarroyo label stuck to Villar like a leech. It practically became his nickname. To top this off, Villar’s campaign slogan, “Sipag at tiyaga” (Industriousness and perseverance), was punned and converted to “C5 at taga,” which raked up the allegation that he had used public funds to build the C5 extension through his real estate development. Taga, is a Tagalog colloquialism meaning “to make a hit” or “to make money.”
Perhaps Roxas, Cayetano and Trillanes think that, if eroding Villar’s ranking succeeded in scuttling his presidential campaign and in catapulting Noynoy Aquino to Malacañang, launching a demolition campaign against Binay could also be beneficial to them.
Frankly, they should put their campaign funds to better use. Destroying Binay will not help any of them get closer to the presidency or the vice-presidency than they are now (which, from indications, is quite a formidable distance). The only way they can do that is by building up themselves, rather than destroying their opponent.
For starters, the reason Noynoy Aquino benefited from the erosion of Villar’s ranking was because Aquino had already succeeded in captivating the imagination of the electorate. He had the magic name of his mother and father. Among sentimental Pinoy voters, the grief over Cory’s demise evoked visions of “The Queen is dead, long live the new King.” The only thing that kept them from immediately crowning PNoy was the determined effort of Villar to catch up, throwing tons of money into his campaign.
Does either Cayetano or Trillanes have the same magic formula for Malacañang? Not by a long shot. In the case of Roxas, he may have had such a magic formula in the run-up to the 2010 elections, but that appears to have been wasted. His stints in the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and now in the Department of Interior and Local Government have bared his incompetence. He also has this painful inability to connect with the masses, and his ridiculous efforts at remaking his image (i.e., directing traffic in the rain, lifting sacks of rice and garlic, driving a tricycle) are pathetic.
On the other hand, Cayetano as a presidential wannabe, reminds me of then Speaker Joe de Venecia, running against Erap Estrada. I’ve recounted this anecdote in this corner before and I’ll tell it again.
In spite of all of the unsavory media reports on Estrada’s womanizing, drinking and gambling, he continued to enjoy high ratings in public opinion polls. At a community reception at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, with De Venecia as guest of honor, I bumped onto Pepito Vera Perez, brother of Gina de Venecia. Being an old friend from advertising and Tagalog movie days, Pepito asked me why his brother-in-law, with his political machinery, his intellectual capacity and his impressive record as a legislator, was having difficulty catching up with Erap.
My response was that Pepito, having been raised in showbusiness (his family owned Sampaguita Pictures and Vera-Perez Productions), should have had a better understanding of the mind of the Filipino voters . “These are the same people who watch Tagalog movies,” I said.
And I went on: “If you were to cast Erap and Joe in a movie, wouldn’t you portray Erap as the lowly, irreverent kanto boy with a good heart, and wouldn’t you cast Joe as the sleek son of the Don, raised in the big city, who comes home to the hacienda? Who do you think will win the hand of the farmer’s daughter?”
Pepito immediately saw my point. As expected, Erap Estrada won the presidency by a landslide. But that’s not the end of the Erap phenomenon. In the 2010 presidential elections, in spite of having been deposed and convicted of plunder, Erap ran and finished next to Aquino and ahead of Villar.
The lesson here for the handlers of Roxas, Cayetano and Trillanes is that they should endeavor to understand the masses more intimately and strive to extract the “magic” in their prospective candidates for the highest positions in the land.
Erap had the magic. Noynoy Aquino had it because of his parents. Jojo Binay has it. The latter has a life story that would make a great telenovela. And along with that, Binay has carefully nurtured his links with the kind of voters that gave Erap a landslide victory. They identify with him. And they appreciate what he did for people like them when he was mayor of Makati. They also appreciate what he continues to do for OFWs and for those who would like to own their own homes, as presidential adviser for OFWs and for housing.
Unlike Grace Poe, who enjoys the advantage of famous parents – Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces – and a political tearjerker attached to FPJ’s death, Cayetano is bland and colorless and Trillanes is perceived as a loose cannon who often shoots off his mouth before his mind is cocked. Roxas, on the other hand, has a great gift for shooting himself on the foot. That’s not a very encouraging starting point.
The contrast between Cayetano and Binay is stark. And so is Binay’s contrast with Roxas. Both Cayetano and Roxas were to the manor born. If either of them want to make a dramatic and indelible impression on the voting masses, they had better find a formula to out-dramatize that of Binay and Erap (who has also made noises about running again).
And Trillanes? Well, his military-rebel-willing-to-die-for-principles image was good while it lasted. But that has faded. He is just another traditional politician. Chiz Escudero would leave him choking in the dust if Escudero were to decide to run for vice-president. And then, there’s Grace Poe.
At any rate, I suggest that Roxas, Cayetano and Trillanes should do something really impressive and dramatic to make their names resonate with the masses. For example, Cayetano could first run for mayor of Taguig and try to outdo the benevolence of the Binays.
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