Anatomy of a victory

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Anatomy of a victory
Tuesday, 06 26, 2007

First, put across the message, using a fresh and refreshing face to connect to the voters and remind them of the candidate’s achievements. Then mobilize the constituencies and parallel organizations that the candidate has nurtured through the years. Present the candidate before the public as a consensus builder, as a performer who delivers. In addition, steer him away from controversies — and see to it that he sticks to the issues, and that he never should ever get personal on his fellow candidates.

These ingredients for a successful campaign are never alien to anyone who has gotten into politics. They, in fact, are proved and tested components of past many campaigns, but which have been largely ignored by others in favor of the mistaken belief that when money talks, everyone starts to listen. Senatorial candidate Edgardo Angara, on the other hand, stuck to these proved and tested strategies, spent way below the minimum allowed under the election code, and saw himself proclaimed seventh-place in the new set of senators for the Fourteenth Congress.

Angara did not have to rely on some heavyweight endorser (read that as, venerable politician or popular spouse of a politician). Instead, he enrolled Sarah Geronimo, that fresh, young talent, to convince and persuade the electorate that ang gara ng buhay if Angara were always around. Efforts of other candidates on name-punning were either too strained that these monikers fell victim to worse, derisive and cruel puns from the notoriously pun-loving Filipino. In contrast, Geronimo’s spiel for Angara was effortless, credible and without guile. Remember McLuhan? The medium is the message.

Over the years that he has been in public service, Angara has led and/or organized many sectors — the professions, business, health, agriculture, education, the elderly and the youth — and did a good job at each one of them. These sectors, with a multitude of members who continue to believe in his advocacies and who are fully committed to do good for the nation through Angara, campaigned hard for him. His wide collection of friends, classmates, and his brothers in the Sigma Rho, like his sectoral partners, moved about to bring the message of Angara to the voters. His family, of course, which includes his five-year-old grandson, pitched in for the campaign, and this bespoke a lot about the Angara familial solidarity. All these show of support were greatly put to advantage. It was not surprising, therefore, for Angara to be moving about at his own pace during the campaign, at any time and anywhere, outside the strictures of the Team Unity (TU) schedules and campaign modes.

For a candidate who has served the longest in the Senate, and performed well, Angara is fully entitled to bragging rights to the sobriquet “Outstanding Senator Deserving of Six More Years in the Senate.” With his many-monikered persona — Father of Senior Citizens, Senator-Farmer, Mr. Electoral Reforms, Edong Educator, Mr. PhilHealth Provider, Absentee-Voters Advocate, and several more — there was no need for hard sell to project his actual performance. That Angara is the author of significant laws that matter to every Filipino, is a truthful assertion. That Angara’s legislative performance was more the fruit of his consensus-building skills, getting many disparate advocacies to jell into one cohesive and comprehensible law, is an acknowledged fact. Geronimo simply had to state the obvious, without guile and bombast, and the public invariably got reminded of the Angara “connect” on every aspect of their lives.

Angara dwelt on his achievements, and steered away from the many controversies in the campaign such as the alleged vote buying and delivery of command votes. Angara was quiet on the issues that did not matter to the conduct of his campaign. After all, he had nothing to gain from getting embroiled in controversies. The people were choosing their senators, and they must choose from the list those who would be able to deliver for them — and not the one who could deliver an amusing quote on every subject that lands in the papers.

So, even on that vicious ASO campaign jingle, Angara held his tongue and kept his cool. To the Angara supporters, it was annoying, and deserved something vicious in response. But not to Angara. His was the sobering and moderating voice that controlled the hotheads in his camp. It was a controversy he could live with. And his victory at the polls vindicated him — just as he, confident that the public will see through the lie, had vindicated himself against claims in the past that he had not done anything for education or agriculture or public health or whatever else.

Such is the drawing power of a candidate whom sensible, right-thinking people believe in. And when the time calls for it, these people become volunteers. The campaign staff of Angara were all volunteers such as Reggie Pastrana, who delivered Romblon for him, and Dan Pinto of Albay, who squeezed in Angara as the lone TU candidate in the Magic 12. Amazing how literally hundreds had turned up at the campaign headquarters, all wanting to join Angara in the hustings! Lawyer Rey Regalado did a good job at mustering the efforts of these volunteers.

When he chose to be included in the ticket of the Administration, Angara was written off by some political know-it-alls. But he was prepared to take up that challenge, by just being himself: a performer. He knew exactly how to deal with the expected protest vote, something his runningmates in the TU were ill-prepared for.

Angara has been proclaimed senator for a fresh six-year term. Having worked with and been inspired and motivated by this quiet, hardworking man through all my professional life, how I wish, like the rest of the 12,404,138 (and still counting) who voted for him last May 11, that he would carry on for many more years in the Senate, for a better, brighter Philippines.

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