A couple of barangay chairmen in Manila who happen to be old friends of mine have intimated that recently, they were invited by a handful of their colleagues to visit former President Rodrigo Duterte.
When they said they were so thankful they were not able to make it, I asked why.
According to them, their said colleagues did not inform them that the purpose of seeing former President Duterte was to convince him to run for mayor of Manila. They flew to Davao just for that and of course, as expected, they badmouthed the sitting officials of the local government.
The idea, they said, was rejected outright by the former president and my friends say they are just so glad that they were not there when it happened.
While they belong to a political party that rivaled the Asenso Manileno, the ruling local party in Manila, these chairmen-friends of mine say that they do not approve of ‘outsiders’ running the affairs of the city where they were born and raised.
According to them, they may be political foes of the sitting local officials but they still care deeply for their city. Not that they are against President Duterte, but they believe that only a true-blue Manilan can best run their beloved city.
They looked back at the time when the city’s affairs were in the hands of a non-Manilan, how chaotic the situation was, and how the city was mismanaged then.
I agree with them. Totally. A homegrown mayor in any city or municipality for that matter would know the ins and outs of the city, the problems confronting it daily, and how to best address them.
In addition, we cannot expect someone who lives elsewhere to truly and fully care for a city that is alien to him.
The situation may be compared to a house. If the one who lives in it is the owner himself, expect him to take good care of the house. But if the occupant is a mere renter, expect the opposite.
Hats off to President Duterte if it is true that he was asked to run for mayor of Manila and that he rejected the idea altogether.
May other politicians do the same –I mean, if the whole country knows where you lived all your life and although you may be allowed by law to run just by establishing a one-year residency in the city you intend to ‘encroach on’ before elections, there is still the so-called ‘delicadeza’ which voters should look for in a candidate.
Sadly, ‘delicadeza’ is a rare commodity these days, most especially among politicians.
Even more lamentable is the fact that these kinds of indecent politicians flourish because of those who sell their votes to the highest bidders, no matter how unfit that politician is.
Maybe the Commission on Elections should also look into the one-year residency requirement.
This merely gives unscrupulous political dynasties who have made politics their business and who have enriched themselves with the people’s money to eat up on other cities once they have filled up all the available positions in their own.
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