Manila: Philippine vice-presidential hopeful Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr apparently is not losing hope in forging a political union with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and is using every tactic to associate himself with the latter.
As Duterte marked his 71st birthday on March 28, Marcos Jr, more popularly known as Bong Bong, the son of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr, squeezed in time from a hectic political campaign schedule to greet the Davao City chief executive with a flowery poem.
“There is a mayor who goes by the name ‘Digong’
And his friend named Bong Bong
From North to South
Be happy and shout
Today is your birthday, where is the blowout?” Marcos Jr wrote in his short attempt at poetry posted on Facebook.
Bong Bong’s poem provides a light take on the fast heating up electoral contest for the May 9, 2016 general vote. There have been rumours in the past that Duterte would be pairing with Bong Bong but these turned out to be false.
Duterte had not responded to Bong Bong’s poetic birthday present at the time of writing but the Marcos scion was apparently trying to get attention from the Davao City mayor who, according to surveys is among the top three presidential contenders, together with Senator Grace Poe and Vice-President Jejomar Binay.
Fourth ranking candidate, former interior secretary Mar Roxas is fast closing the gap.
Bong Bong is running mate to presidential hopeful Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
In recent surveys, Bong Bong placed second to Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Poe’s running mate.
Duterte, who recently joined the PDP-Laban, is in the race together with Senator Allan Peter-Cayetano.
Federalism
Aside from a political platform of working to rid the country of corruption and crime, Duterte and Cayetano’s candidacy hinges on a plan to adopt a federal form of government.
Proponents say a federal governance structure would devolve the centralised decision making process, recognise the distinct ethno-political peculiarities of every region and evenly spread out economic development to other parts of the country among others.
On the part of Roxas, who is running with vice-presidential bet, Congressman Leni Robredo, adopting a federal form of administration will only add additional layers in the bureaucracy that would result in higher taxes.
“All federal systems have separate taxes for the federal and national administration. If you want to pay more taxes then go for federal, if not, stay with what we have right now,” he said.
Duterte has said that only a federal solution will bring peace to Mindanao and spread development to other parts of the country.
