LOOKING BACK FEBRUARY. The rough road to Malacanang

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is gaining adherents not so much for his campaign for a Federal System of government but for the Presidency. 

We heard it from those who attended his Summit on Federalism: “How can and what good will the Federal System be if Mayor Duterte will not run for President?”

Indeed there is much to be absorbed in this question raised by the youth sector in one of his earlier summits. Duterte is prepared to answer issues on Federalism but this question is confrontational and no subtle answer will suffice for the Mayor to skip and escape the issue.

For now, we are quite certain that Mayor Duterte is up for the biggest challenge in his political career. 

There is some kind of romanticism in Federalism spawned by the discontent of a large segment of the country’s population over how the government allocates wealth, 

infrastructure projects and services. On top of these iniquities however is the magma of corruption that gnawed the fabric of government institutions. 

Election is around the bend moreover if we follow the results of the surveys on the presidentiables the trend shows that the respondents are still in search for other alternatives.

So far, only the traditional crop of politicians who in one time or another were involved in shady deals have presented themselves for the presidency. 

Vice Pres. Jojo Binay has been leading in the surveys but he is also the biggest loser as far percentage decline. Given the indubitable fact that he drew his strength in Mindanao respondents it is not farfetched that he will land in the same category as Mar Roxas.

 That is of course is dependent on whether or not Duterte will run. If he does, that’s the end of the beautiful story of Binay.