Presidency a gift for Atty. Leni Robredo?

By Alex P. Vidal

“Few men in our history have ever obtained the Presidency by planning to obtain it.”—James A. Garfield

THERE were two sets of father-son Presidents in the United States: John Adams (1797-1801)-John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) and George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)-George W. Bush (2001-2009).

In the Philippines, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., namesake of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., will attempt to win the presidency on May 9 and catapult the Marcoses to the record books as the first father-son Filipino Presidents. Amazing!

Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening soon; no, this might not happen yet, or it may never happen at all.

Bongbong Marcos Jr and his running-mate, Sara Duterte-Carpio, have been endorsed by the bloc-voting religious sect, Iglesia ni Cristo (Inc) six days before the election, apart from consistently topping the surveys conducted by Pulse Asia, Social Weather Station, Laylo Research and Publicus Asia, where the son Marcos pulled away by a commanding 53 percent over his closest pursuer, Vice President Leni Robredo, who got 23 percent.

These were the solid basis for the claim of a successful campaign by supporters of Marcos Jr. and, perhaps, by Marcos Jr. himself and Duterte-Carpio, daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.

And why not? What “concrete signs” do we need to know more to be convinced that this presidential race would be a lopsided win for Marcos Jr.?

Were these overwhelming indications or probability of a “sure” Marcos Jr. victory not enough?

They’re more than enough, yes; and that’s enough.

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The presidency may not necessarily be an inheritance; it’s more of a “rendezvous with destiny.”

It’s not a regular title that can just be bestowed upon anyone who wishes to get it by hook or by crook. It’s a gift.

If Marcos Jr. is destined to become president, he will bring it home even without leading in the pre-election surveys; and without the much ballyhooed endorsement from any religious empire.

Ditto with his arch-rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, the real dark horse in this race.

Between Marcos Jr. and Atty. Robredo, however, we see two different worlds apart.

We feel the vice president is the one deserving the gift of the presidency by virtue of her sterling background in public service, her humble stint in the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), her low-key lifestyle, her moral ascendancy as a single parent, her character and demeanor as a woman, her intelligence, and as a widow who never compromised the values of her modest family.

The quality of people who admire Atty. Robredo’s brand of leadership and politics pales in comparison with those who regularly mounted brutal disinformation campaign and canard against her person and family. They simply wanted to malign her based on the lies and derogatory issues being spread in the social media. Many if not most of them were unfounded and baseless and meant only to sabotage her public image as a presidential wanna-be.

If she wins on May 9–which we feel, based on the passionate reactions of her supporters, she will—Atty. Robredo will redeem the nation from being tagged as the biggest cemetery in Southeast Asia owing to the mishandled bloody campaign against illegal drugs and from a leadership that has institutionalized the use of cuss words in public speaking and the most familiar “p_tang ina” or SOB.

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The phrase “rendezvous with destiny” has been used by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War II and Ronald Reagan in his successful bid for the presidency in 1980, according to writer Ross Sloan.

It would be hard to argue that the election of Donald Trump in 2016 would not also rank in that same category.

Very few persons of note thought Mr. Trump would defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The liberal left even assured everyone that Trump’s election absolutely could not happen, Sloan added.

Even former President Barack Obama smugly told the Americans that Trump would never be president. How many anti-Robredo TikTokers have said that Robredo has no chance?

Time and again, elections have been proven to be the most unpredictable if not latently mysterious societal human undertaking since the right to suffrage was established.

The candidates are presented in public for the voters to choose; they campaign for our votes; and we cast our votes based on what we know about the candidates—or based on their qualifications.

And there are several factors why the strongest and more popular candidates penciled to win sometimes end up eating the dust.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)