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ONE gets the sneaking feeling that fate is somehow
playing a happy and compliant hand in the senatorial bid of
swashbuckling (anyone who keeps eight tigers, a lion and two pythons
as domestic pets has to fit neatly into that description) Ilocos Sur
Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson.
First there was the hostage
crisis involving a busload of school kids in Manila, where Singson
acted as the calm and cool conduit to end the crisis
peacefully—landing him full center on the national and
international (CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, Fox News) stage.
The near saturation coverage in
the global village of that tense drama was an unexpected bonanza in
that Singson thereby managed—and at no personal expense or effort
whatsoever to boot—to emblazon his persona dramatically in the
living rooms and offices of millions of overseas Filipinos with the
right to absentee voting at next month’s election.
Then there was the matter of a
helicopter he was riding crashing into a rugged hillside of a
northern province. The chopper was a crumpled mess but Singson—enhancing
his tough guy image—walked away from the scary scene with just
slight injuries.
Needless to say, that incident
landed him once again on prime time television news and the front
pages of newspapers, providing priceless, yet unsolicited, campaign
publicity.
Of all the reputable and serious
candidates who have thrown their hats (and in Singson’s case that
metaphor applies literally since a wide-brimmed hat is a prominent
prop on his campaign trail) into the May 2007 senatorial race,
Singson provides the most intriguing factor.
On his record alone in the
province (Singson rattles off that during his watch “from a
fifth-class province we are now a first-class province, and from
being one of the most notorious we are now a peaceful province”)
he was a shoo-in for another term as governor of Ilocos Sur.
But he chose to leave his comfort
zone in Vigan and, in a drastic departure from the usual mold of
play-safe Filipino politicians, take a risky plunge and give
national politics a go.
So what’s it all about, Gov?
“It was 81 members of the Governors’ League who made me run,”
says Singson. “They felt that local government needed to be better
represented in the Senate and that I would be the best suited to do
so. You see, the governors are not happy about the fact that we see
the senatorial candidates quite a lot in the provinces during the
election but after they get elected we hardly see them again.
“If elected I will be batting
for local government issues. My platform is decentralization of
government. The national government is too powerful. I will
legislate for more rural development. But, of course, as a senator I
will care about the interests of all the Filipino people.”
Singson also reveals a very
personal reason for his Senate run. “As I see it the Senate has
been a very divisive chamber. Without passing bills all they seem to
be doing is quarrelling and investigating. I felt I just couldn’t
sit around and look on while our country was being destroyed.”
As to what have been the ups and
downs of the campaign thus far Singson notes: “The upside is that
it has given me the opportunity to see all of the Philippines for
the first time in my life and meet so many of my fellow countrymen.
The downside is the taxing schedule with sometimes just two or three
hours sleep, And, of course, the expense.”
Having, as he put it, survived
seven ambushes (including one time when two hand grenades were
thrown in his direction while he was on a dance floor) and three air
crashes, Singson has lived beyond the proverbial nine lives. “But
I don’t wear any lucky charms or anything like that,” he
explains. “I just put my trust fully in God, and I really believe
God protects me because he has a mission for me.”
What happens at the ballot boxes
on May 14 will determine if one stage of that mission gets to be
accomplished.
rjottings@yahoo.com
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