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The Vice Presidentiables

The next Philippine elections are seven months away yet surveys of presidentiables, declarations of candidacy (or non-candidacy) and slimy exchanges of accusations already bombard the public. Whether we like it or not, the election fever is intensifying and it is best to be prepared rather than be manipulated by unscrupulous media spins and political maneuvers. Thus, Election Watch will feature articles related to the political circus called elections. This week, we are posting brief sketches of the survey topnotchers.

A small-town mayor became president. He was, his supporters said, popular with the urban poor but alienated the middle class. This spelled his doom. Fernando was a small-time mayor who wants to become vice president. He attracted the middle class but alienated the urban poor. What doom awaits him?

Bayani Fernando, the Philippine Lee Kuan Yew. This is the upbeat image of the current Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair and the former mayor of Philippines’ shoetown, Marikina. From local czar, Fernando however is now gunning for no less than the second highest seat in the land, the vice-presidency.

Fernando first blazed into prominence among Metro Manila private motorists and middle-class crowd, when as mayor, he drove off small hawkers and vendors from his city’s streets, apart from running by typical Metro Manila standards an efficient traffic operation. This feat caught the imagination of the urban motorist set and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who catapulted him to the top MMDA post and sought to spruce up her own public image with his newfound popularity.

As MMDA chair, Fernando replicated his Marikina formula on a much larger scale, in major streets of the rest of Metro Manila. As the scope of his functions grew, so did his media projection. The new, sanitized look of Metro Manila sidewalks cleared of vendors soon earned him the status of Philippines’ new media darling, as press pundits lionized him as the efficient manager the country needs. Now, even Fernando thinks so as he has announced his candidacy for the vice-presidency and has gone full blast in trying to maximize media mileage with his own television program in a government station.

Despite Fernando’s wide appeal to an urban-middle class, he has his own share of disbelievers. Recently, I asked a taxi driver what he thought of Bayani Fernando as vice-president. It so happened that he was a Marikina resident, so I waited eagerly for his answer. He scoffed, “Oo, malinis nga ang mga bangketa sa Marikina. Nakakadagdag doon na nababawasan ang mga tao. Umaalis kasi ang marami at lumilipat sa ibang lugar Paano, kokonti, bagsak na ang pagawaan. Wala nang hanapbuhay sa Marikina.” (Yes, the streets are clean in Marikina. It helps that there are fewer people there now. Many are leaving and transferring elsewhere. What would you expect when factories are few and closing down. There’s no livelihood left in Marikina.”)

Marikina, the country’s shoe capital, is one of the towns hardest hit by globalization. As Italian shoes flood the markets, sales of Marikina-made shoes have slumped sharply. Though urban motorists may be thrilled by the spic and span of Metro Manila sidewalks and the high visibility of Fernando’s traffic force, the Metro Manila poor are not as impressed.

Metro Manila vendors complain that they have no other legitimate livelihood to turn to but selling in sidewalks, where their customers are. While Singapore’s industrialized and truly modern economy can absorb most of its vendors kept off the sidewalks, Metro Manila’s third world, pre-modern economy of 12 million residents and three million transients cannot. Joblessness, a major complaint of the urban poor, haunts Metro Manila. Despite Fernando’s harsh crackdown on sidewalk vendors, many hawkers continue to ply their wares in the nooks and crannies of the urban jungle, fighting what appears to be a guerrilla war of survival against the Fernando police.

Fernando’s message of peace and order and clean sidewalks may ring a bell with the urban middle-class voters. But, without a program for national industrialization to employ those displaced from the sidewalks, Fernando may be hard put to court the vote of the poor, who remain the bulk of the country’s voters.

Moreover, Fernando belongs to the team of President Macapagal-Arroyo, in charge of administering the country’s globalization program. As globalization creates more joblessness as in the Marikina shoe belt, Fernando would find it difficult to project himself as a creator rather than as a destroyer of jobs for the poor.

At the moment, Fernando remains “Mr. Clean” to the public. But his recent and short stint as concurrent Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) could raise doubts about his credentials as graft-buster. According to columnist Federico Pascual, DPWH insiders reported to him that Fernando quickly bolted out of the department, after corrupt politicians complained to Malacañang about Fernando’s meddling with their pork barrel and kickbacks. If correct, the column implied that Fernando simply kept silent about both the DPWH corruption and the Malacañang protection.

Critics also point out that Fernando’s apparent efficiency is also coupled with a callous ruthlessness. Church and activist groups have questioned the high incidence of police brutality in the dismantling of vendor stalls during MMDA operations. His reputation as a berdugo (tyrant) soared when he threatened to pour kerosene on the merchandise of vendors to discourage them from selling—a tactic endorsed by Malacañang through its spokersperson Ignacio Bunye, Jr.

I am reminded of a small-town mayor who became president. He was popular with the urban poor but alienated the middle class. This spelled his doom. Fernando was a small-time mayor who wants to become vice president. He attracted the middle class but alienated the urban poor. What doom awaits him? Bulatlat.com