DAGHANG pamaagi ang pagdaog sa piniliay.
A neophyte candidate for mayor valiantly faced a veteran mayor of the town, and right there and then, many people thought the neophyte has lost her marbles.
How could you win, the mayor is a veteran, long-serving politiko in the town, unya ikaw didto ka magdako sa Manila unya mo-deretso dayon ka og lansad og mayor, wa ka ma-buang, she was asked.
But the neophyte was unfazed, in fact, she thought she had a good plan of winning.
And she did.
Giunsa man niya?
Gi-sampolan lang og usa ka buto, didto sa bukid areas, daog na dayon, was the formula.
Let’s dissect.
* * *
Because he was the incumbent mayor, naturally, he had the advantage of a political machinery, meaning, an organization down to the barangay and purok level, in every barangay for that matter. He was fully organized with barangay and purok coordinators to boot. And of course, the police force was under his beck and call like some sort of a private army.
The neophyte had none of these, except money and the will to spend it. She knew that to level the playing field, she had to do something to sort of neutralize the well-oiled political machinery of the incumbent mayor.
A savvy political operator advised her to use guns and goons, not to foment violence but just to “terrorize” them a bit, not to kill but to threaten, especially those in the far-flung barangays.
And that she did. With her goons, she guided them to specific targets or specific leaders and coordinators, especially on the night before the election.
And to make it appear that they meant business, the goons used their guns to make some “paukyab” near the house of the identified leaders and coordinators.
That was enough.
And sure thing, they did not go out of their houses anymore, terrified of the idea of being shot at by unidentified goons with guns, giving the neophyte and her supporters complete authority to visit any houses at will.
The result – gamata lang og morning si mayor while busy si neophyte og panghatag sa iyang inangayan, and wala na mahatag ang ka-mayor.
Hilabihang daoga sa neophyte og hilabihang katingala ni mayor nga napildi siya nga unta maayo man kaayo pagka-plano ang iyang inangayan.
That was the end of the reign of the mayor, and the start of the reign of the neophyte for 3 terms, followed by her husband for another 3 terms.
* * *
This other mayor is smart.
On the night before the election, he made it appear that his supporter was caught delivering inangayan to some voters and was arrested accordingly. The arrest and the entire incident was deliberately floated all over the town.
Because of that, the opponent of the mayor thought that with the arrest, an election offense no doubt, the mayor would no longer bother to deliver his inangayan.
Kay dili na man manghatag si mayor, the opposition thought it wise not to deliver their inangayan too, plus mag-atubang pa gyod si mayor og kaso sa Comelec.
Unknown to them, the trap was set deliberately and the mayor and his supporters got blanket and unhindered coverage in delivering their inangayan.
Hilabihang pildiha sa kontra and the mayor congratulated himself for coming up with the devious but successful scheme.
