By Mortz C. Ortigoza
It was just a casual three hours’ conversation yesterday between the amiable San Fabian Mayor Danny Agbayani and I inside his air-conditioned office while the scorching heat of the sun king (the real sun king not George Harrison’s Sun King) outside which according to media heartthrob the bronze skinned Atong Remogat could hit 50 degrees Celsius.
The Hizzoner jolted me when he said that his Missus Marlyn Espino-Agbayni got 80 percent versus her two opponents exiting Board Member Liberato Z. Villegas and former Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Director Juvenal B. Azurin while he garnered 81% versus vice mayoralty rival Dr. Maria Rolyn Gubatan of the scientific poll commissioned by a family of a national politician last week.
“What? Meron ng survey hanggang saan ang coverage kaninong poll iyan? I quipped while pulling out from my pocket the android phone and setting it to recording mode.
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| POLL LEADERS in the 1,200 respondents scientific commissioned survey done recently in the Fourth Congressional District of Pangasinan. From left photo and clockwise: Pangasinan Goverenor Amado "Pogi" Espino, III, Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim, and former Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe D. Parayno. |
“Ito ang news ko bukas
sa blog scooped ito!” I added with zeal as I put on the top table of the
hizzoner my mobile phone.
Mayor Danny (real name is Constante of PDP-LBN (mine damn is Marcelo hahaha!) was
interrupted once-in-a-while by indigent constituents who picked up their
P20,000 burial expenses from the wads of currency given to him by an aide) told
me and Atong that the poll was commissioned by the family of Fourth District
Congressman Toff de Venecia and the infos there were verbally given to them Mayors
last week. He said it covers the four towns district.
“Kay Manay Gina (de
Venecia) ang survey ito?” I posed.
“Oo,” he retorted.
Here are the WINNERS of the 1,300 (probably 1,200 –Mortz) respondents’
polls with some with their corresponding percentages among electoral players in the
Fourth Congressional District of the gargantuan Pangasinan province according to Mayor Agbayani:
1)
Reelective Governor Amado “Pogi” Espino, III: 80
percent
2)
Dagupan City reelective Mayor Marc Brian Lim
with a little edge against former Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.
“Slight hehe. Ayaw namang sabihin
sa amin. Parang lamang si Mayor (Brian) ayaw sabihin sa amin,” an amused Agbayani said.
Former Mayor Fernandez is an ally
of Congressman De Venecia.
3)
Former Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe D. Parayno.
4)
Manaoag Vice Mayor Domy Ching.
5)
San Jacinto Mayor Leo de Vera
6)
San Fabian Mayorship Bet Marlyn Espino-Agbayani.
7)
Provincial Board candidates from high to the low scored candidates (top two are to be taken by the provincial legislature): 1) San Fabian Vice Mayor Marinor
B. De Guzman, 2) Dr. Jerry Rosario, 3) Kapitan
Ritchie Abalos, 4) Lawyer Gerald Gubatan, 5) former San Fabian Mayor Jaming Libunao, and others.
8)
Reelective Dagupan City Vice Mayor Bryan Kua.
9) Vice Governor Mark Lambino.
***
If Guico had this lethargic performance in the Fourth District – the smallest congressional area with more or less 300, 000 (where the more than 100,000 voters of Dagupan City didn't vote for the Guv electoral derby) registered voters among the six districts in the Land of Princess Urduja -, does his pathetic poll performance reflects in the other congressional districts?
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| L-to-R PHOTO: Political Columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza, amiable San Fabian Mayor Danny Agbayani, and consequential and prolific Radio Man Renato "Atong" Remogat during the visit of the duo to the hizzoner in his office. |
“What is the equation
of Monmon versus Pogi, fifty-fifty? Sixty – forty?” I asked Abono Partylist
Rep. Conrad Estrella before the starts of the proclamation rally of the
Opposition against Governor Espino and his political allies in Bayambang,
Pangasinan last March 26.
He told me that Monmon was behind Pogi Espino.
Do the three to four expensive 30 seconds political ads of Guico during
the Balitang Amianan news at the regional television networks of GMA-7 only
show that he was hell bent to eclipse Espino in the highest elective post in Pangasinan more than a month before election day?
THIS COLUMNIST: Guico versus Pogi, fifty-fifty, sixty-forty
anong tingin ninyo?
CONGRESSMAN ESTRELLA: We would always want to look at this
way: Kami ang humahabol!
THIS COLUMNIST: May survey na kayo?
CONGRESSMAN: Inilalagay namin sa isip naming kami ang
humahabol.
A pal in the United States of Mayor Bona Parayno reacted
when I told him that the former led the poll versus incumbent Mayor Marlyn Lambino and former PNP Chief Director General Art Lomibao:
“Sa Mangaldan, ang
word is it’s becoming Bona vs. Lomibao na…..Sabi sa kanya
(Bona whose husband is a kin of Espino – Mortz) ni General Spines dapat daw
umabot mga seventy percent para medyo sigurado”.
“How can the Agbayanis
be defeated with 80 percent of the polls they dominated against their opponents,”
a political kibitzer, who asked with a condition of anonymity, told me.
Aside from the P100 bill they give to each individual (geez hundreds of em'!) every
time they have morning sorties and soirees, the spouses give monthly payroll of
P10,000 for the 33 Kapitans out of the 34 village chiefs who are their
ardent supporters, the P5,000 and P2,000 to the SK (Sangguniang Kabataan
Presidents) and the Kagawad of the Barangays, respectively.
When Atong lauded that he and wife significantly dominated the survey,
Danny said he would slow down now on his patronage politics by just sleuthing
how many kilos of chicken Villegas and Azurin (a PMYer) put in their arroz
caldo (chicken rice porridge).
“Kung magpa arroz
caldo sila titingnan na lang namin kung ano ang sahog ng arroz caldo. Kung
nilagyan nila dalawang kilo (chicken meat) gagawin naming dalawampung kilo
(chicken meat) hahahaha!” Agbayani, who endearingly called by constituents as
Buddha, humored.
***
Here’s my take on that survey where the winner like Brian,
Pogi, and Bona can still lose the election to be held almost a month as of this
writing.
Granted that up to the May 9 election, Dagupan Mayor Lim -
salamabit he is running without a new set of infra projects in a new budget for
this year thanks to the dissent, procrastination, and stonewalling of ex-Mayor Belen’s Dads who are the majority
in the Legislature – maintains his miniscule lead but Fernandez dangles say P5,000
to each voter and he (Brian) offers P3,000 – Brian lost the D-Day.
It happened in the past where a national candidate who was
20% in the poll while the incumbent was 80% - as seen on the scientific poll - but
still lost because the former flood the district with tens if not hundreds of
millions of pesos for the ecstatic more than hundred of thousands of voters.
P5,000 versus P5,000 and Brian gets the more than 7,000 command
votes of the Iglesia ni Kristo - just like in the 2019 election, he wins the Pyrrhic poll that could undermine
his and Belen’s chains of malls especially if Atong R. info materializes that
each of the candidates will flood, gee whiz, the coastal city with P15,000 per
voter.
“Kawawa ang mga outsiders
ng Dagupan City niyan Atong pag magkatotoo ang hypothetical prognosis natin na
may vote buying,” I said.
“Why To’ (Atong an
ex-Army man calls me on my Ilonggo nickname Toto)?”
“Wala na namang
tricycle drivers na papasada, tatlong araw na naman na sarado ang McDonalds,
Jollibees, 7-11, Chowkings, at iba dahil inubos ng mga masa except ang Fish-O-Filet
ng McDo dahil hindi nila alam kung anong pagkain iyang French sounding food na
iyan!”
My analogy on Brian
still losing the poll can happen with those other poll winners more than a
month before the survey was commissioned as long as their rivals have the superior
wherewithal they can sow during the pakurong – Pangasinan word of vote buying
in the eve of the election.
With bobotantes dominating the Flip (brevity for Filipinos) Politics
today – everybody is for sale to the highest bidder.
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