ARGAO'S POLITICAL DEGENERATION

I had several friends of mine who have had experiences in local political campaigns as well as who were former POLSCI schoolmates from UP Cebu to do a brief analysis on the candidates of Argao for the 2010 elections. Because I am currently a consultant for the municipality I felt that it would be a little unethical for me to write the article myself and thus decided to let my friends do this article. However, I would like to point out this early on that I am in complete agreement with this analysis.

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When Edsel A. Galeos, a successful engineer, took over the reins of government from Mayor Wilfredo S. Caminero in 2007, everyone in Argao breathed a sigh of relief at the introduction of someone new to the political arena of the town. He was always heard by people as saying he wanted a new and better Argao and wanted to break free from the traditional political practices of Argao. His actions and words have, indeed, earned him the title of “the reinventor of Argao”.

His recent political decisions for the 2010 elections, however, speak differently.

The authors of this article went around the town and spoke with various people concerning the political decisions of the incumbent mayor. One old woman pointedly asked why Mayor Galeos was running under the banner of Gwen Garcia and LAKAS-KAMPI. She said that she felt that her mayor was betraying the Davides, whose one member, Hilario P. Davide III, is running against Gwen Garcia. (The Davides, meanwhile, are a very admired family in Argao and the rest of the Philippines). More so, she felt that Mayor Galeos should have chosen another presidential candidate because choosing to support the LAKAS party’s candidate was tantamount to tolerating Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s political malfeasance.

Several tricycle drivers told us that they allowed posters and banners of Gwen Garcia to be displayed on their vehicles because they were afraid “nga initan unya mi ni mayor king dili namo dalhon iyang kandidato” (we are afraid of Mayor Galeos if we do not show our support for his candidate).

A recent large tarp of the administration line up was put up on the wall of Sesaldo’s store recently. On it, the text reads something like: ipadayon ang kalambuan sa Argao sa pagsuporta aning mga kandidato (allow the progress of Argao to continue by supporting these candidates) or thereabouts. When we received the official list of candidates of the administration party in Argao we were surprised to see so many TRAPOS (traditional politicians) listed as candidates of Mayor Galeos.

His vice-mayoralty candidate, Allan M. Sesaldo, is a businessman whose livelihood is based in Mindanao, not in Argao. Although politically a neophyte, he was supposedly heard several times as saying that he was not initially interested in running but was forced to agree to his father’s deathbed request that he run for vice-mayor. His father, incidentally, was the late Daniel L. Sesaldo, a former mayor of Argao. Meanwhile, Allan Sesaldo’s mother, Azucena M. Sesaldo, is on her last term as vice-mayor of Argao.

Mayor Galeos’s councilors are mostly politicians. Two of his eight candidates for councilor are incumbent municipal councilors: Joaquin F. Banosong and Guillermo S. Caminero, Jr. (incidentally, Councilor Caminero’s brother, Wilfredo, was a former 3-term mayor of Argao and an incumbent provincial board member while another brother, Dr. Stanley S. Caminero, is running for vice-mayor against Allan Sesaldo). Another two are incumbent barangay captains: Fedlemido R. Albero and Samuel M. Flores. Two are former barangay captains: Arnel M. dela Cruz and Roberto B. Saniel. One, Annabelle Almirante Birondo, is a daughter of former Argao mayor Antonio A. Almirante, Jr. and was head of the youth arm of the local government during martial law. Only one candidate has never had any political connections: Jose G. Abear. Abear, however, has on several occasions tried, unsuccessfully, to run for councilor of Argao in the past.

The authors of this article are not familiar with the personal backgrounds of these candidates, but the point of this analysis is simple: how can Argao boast of breaking away from the traditional and corrupt system of its political system when its mayor, who is supposedly against traditional politics, has filled his slate with remnants of Argao’s dirty and ineffective past?

We asked people why Mayor Galeos has not asked popular and very effective councilor Vip F. Semilla, who is on his last term as councilor, to be his running mate. Indeed, people have wondered why he chose someone who completely fits the bill of a trapo to be his running mate. How can Argao move forward if Mayor Galeos’s administration continues to support politicians whose power bases are gold, guns, and goons?

Argao was supposed to be on a political renaissance when Mayor Edsel Galeos became the local chief executive. It now would appear that the reinventor of Argao has been reinvented by the political status quo.