Much has been said about the mayoral and gubernatorial debates that happened over the weekend. It would have been interesting if Mayor Bing Leonardia was there so we can hear his agenda and plans to resolve the many problems that has not been addressed by his administration.
As predicted, he was a no-show but his followers were en masse! It makes you wonder why they were there when they were probably informed that their leader backed out of the agreement. And yes, there was an expressed agreement as mentioned by a lawyer who said that Bing’s team even participated in the tech run the week before the said event and no questions were raised nor was there an indication that they wanted a face-to-face debate.
That’s all water under the bridge. Only his supporters believe his reasons for a physical debate but many of us knew why. Partly, it could also be about the length of time the candidates were limited to answer the question. It was really near impossible to come up with a substantial response in just one minute.
And if you’ve had a chance to cover Mayor Bing’s press conferences, you know he is a man who takes time to answer and that debate would have been disastrous for him.
But his team wasted no time as well in taking that opportunity to slam Albee. It was a concerted effort. Sadly though, they were not even listening to the contender but where just dishing out recycled and non-sensical comments and if they thought it made an impression, it actually just converted the undecided to the other camp.
Fortunately for Albee, he was less under pressure and gamely answered all questions, including the controversial ones like his choice for presidency and the issue of his non-residency.
While these were recycled issues, it gave him a chance to put it to rest. But what was advantageous for him was the opportunity he took, to present his plans and how he could address perennial problems in Bacolod where the present administration failed like the traffic, garbage, and poor management of our utilities.
The debate has been overshadowed of course by the recent move of Rep. Greg Gasataya to join Albee’s team which certainly took a longer time than expected considering that Mayor Bing has been seen in many events with congressional challenger Dan Atayde in tow even before the year ended.
Despite the allegations that Greg was supposedly the “traitor” in his original party for going neutral yet supports Albee, many of us knew from the very start how the scenario would be played out. To Greg’s credit, he did maintain his neutrality until the other camp blatantly displayed Atayde.
What is interesting is that while the mayor seems to be openly endorsing Atayde, there has not been an explicit order for the Grupo Progreso team to do the same and until the mayor probably issues a statement, they’d rather stay out of the issue as most are also close to Greg.
However, with Greg’s official move to join Grupo Asenso, I am sure an order is forthcoming to go all-out for Atayde.
Going back to the debate, Gov. Bong Lacson was caught on-cam fighting, but failed, to hide an amusing smile as he listens to contender, former Bacolod Rep. John Orola answer the questions.
Group chats were active and we all had the same perception that John was able to put one over the governor in several instances. Nothing could stop John from rattling off his plans even when sometimes it was not a direct answer to the question posed.
What struck me though was that, in most of John’s reply, he was directing solutions to the national government. While it is important to get the support of national agencies, many of the questions posed can actually be answered by good governance and political will at the local level.
Negros Occidental is known as one of the progressive provinces in the country and to seemingly throw the problems at the feet of national agencies speaks well of how one will lead.
In our group chat, the comment was the “unstoppable ratatat” of John and this was obvious to the governor as well. But, as Gov. Bong said in an interview, that was the last debate he will participate in and he will just go on to win another mandate in a different way.
He rated himself a five for his performance but I’d go give him another two points for simply showing up.
What I like about Gov. Bong’s presentation was the fact that he admitted he has made decisions during this pandemic that were not popular nor convenient to many, but which he did to ensure the safety of everyone. And even for that, Gov. Bong has shown a leadership style that earned his points during this crisis.
Also, kudos to both candidates for publicly stating that they are for renewable energy. Especially for Gov. Bong who was earlier non-committal in his position regarding the proposed entry of a coal-fired power plant in San Carlos City. His statement that “coal will never happen in Negros,” was a huge victory for environment advocates.
With regards to Albee, one column would not be enough to discuss his plans and the what-ifs. Nevertheless, from one group chat to another, he has gained some admiration. Key points were the consensus leadership style he is offering and removing political intervention in the management of public utilities, particularly in Baciwa and Ceneco. Even for that alone, get gets massive points.*