BY DR ED ESCULTURA –
The 1Sambayan has a huge challenge: to win the 2022 presidential elections. Is it achievable in 11 months?
Here’s what we know: if elections were held now Sara Duterte would get 28% of the votes. To win, she needs 23% and Bongbong Marcos, the most likely person to do it has only 13% to offer which is short of 10%.
Now, 1Sambayan has drawn the battleground with these requirements:
1) To participate actively in unifying the Filipino people to prevent an authoritarian government from taking hold in the Philippines.
2) To support the people in bringing back good governance, respect for human rights, honesty, integrity and accountability in government.
3) to support the selection of a competent administration in the national elections by fielding a national slate of national candidates: president, vice president and 12 senators.
These criteria yield two mutually exclusive camps: 1Sambayan’s for good governance and Sara and Bongbong’s for bad governance. Only Grace Po and Isko Moreno qualify for the former. This leaves Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao no choice but slice Sara and BongBong’s 41% because each has a skeleton in the closet: Manny for his stand on human rights and Lacson for Kuratong Baleleng. There, the answer to is yes.