By Roger M. Balanza
Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab could be the only candidate in May 2010 facing a rival backed by one who claimed to be the Son of God.
But Tamayong Barangay Captain Greg Canada may find his godly-supporter helpless against the incumbent Ungab, who is leading with wide margins in surveys against four wannabes eyeing his Third District congressional seat. Ungab also has the support of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, head of the local bloc Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, which has ruled local politics for years.
Televangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is in his first open foray into bigger politics with his support for Canada, who won his seat as barangay chair of Tamayong in the 2007 barangay polls also with the backing of the head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name also known as the Kingdom. Barangay Tamayong is home to Quiboloy’s Prayer Mountain, the seat of his religious empire.
Canada joins three other Ungab rivals who are already losers before the bells ring to signal the fight: come-backing former congressman Ruy Elias Lopez and last-termer councilors Nonoy Al-ag and Vic Advincula.
Lopez already has sealed the doom of his political future in a split with Mayor Duterte in 2004 over GMA’s impeachment which the then congressman supported. His brother Rene, who run for the post left vacant by last termer Lopez in 2007, lost to Ungab who was supported by Duterte.
Lopez is on a come-back trail and has pitched camp with Speaker Prospero Nograles of the Lakas/Kampi/CMD. Nograles is running against Vice Mayor Sara Duterte in the mayoral race, with Mayor Duterte as her vice mayor. Joining the Nograles-Lopez company is another loser, former Mayor Benjamin de Guzman who facing up to Mayor Duterte.
Quiboloy, who proclaims himself as the Son of God, heads the Kingdom, now an international religious phenomenon claiming hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide.
But in the Third District, the Kingdom lacks the political footing to push Canada as a winning bet backed by a religious group, with its membership said to be only a thin 1,500. The district has about 350,000 in registered voters, nearly half of whom voted for Ungab in the 2007 polls in his first crack at the congressional seat.
To break the Ungab grip, the Canada camp is trying to sell the idea that he is supported by Mayor Duterte, who has Quiboloy as religious adviser and confidante. Al-ag and Advincula are gambling on possibility Mayor Duterte may declare the Third District as a Hugpong free zone, thus upping their chances of winning.
But on the ground however, Mayor Duterte and Vice Mayor Sara made clear who would be the Hugpong candidate in May by having Ungab tag along in their barangay sorties.
0 comments:
Post a Comment