Here’s why Duterte may win

By: Ramon Tulfo, PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

The Liberal Party (LP) is considering the tandem of Sen. Grace Poe and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas (Grace-Mar) or Poe and Sen. Francis Escudero (Grace-Chiz) to run for President and Vice President, respectively, in next year’s presidential election.

Roxas would have to give way to Poe, who topped the senatorial election in 2013, because he’s way down in the popularity surveys.

A political pundit joked that making Roxas run for President is like selling pork to the Muslims.

But will Secretary Roxas humble himself again to become the running mate to neophyte Senator Poe?

Before the 2010 presidential election, Roxas, who was set to run for President, agreed to be the  running mate to then Sen. Noynoy Aquino, a do-nothing congressman and senator, but who became a very popular figure at the time because of the recent death of his mother, former President Cory.

Will Escudero agree to be Poe’s  running mate ?

Escudero has become extremely popular among the masses because of his storybook romance and marriage to actress Heart Evangelista. He is a veteran legislator (congressman and senator) compared to the Joan-come-lately Poe, whose popularity is derived from her father, action star Fernando Poe Jr., himself a presidential candidate in the 2004 election.

‘Experienced’ Jojo (Binay) takes a dig at ‘inexperienced’ Grace—headline.

Yes, Binay, who was Makati mayor for decades, is very much experienced in governance.

But he is also very experienced in stealing people’s money, if we are to believe the allegations against him.

Binay’s  glib tongue and  plain folks’ countenance make him a favorite of the “masa” (masses)  who are mostly political innocents but who—because of their sheer number—elect our national leaders.

Yet  the corruption charges against him, which he does not bother to explain by appearing in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigation, will hound him until election day, May 9, 2016.

Most of the masses  may be politically naive, but they will soon realize they’re being taken for a ride  and vote for his opponent.

The LP thinks and acts like Grace Poe is the people’s only alternative to the tainted Binay.

The administration party forgets that there is Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte who hasn’t declared his intention to run for President but who will soon catch up with Binay and Poe in the next surveys.

The only reason Duterte—Digong or Rody to his friends—is not yet on many of the voters’ radar screens is because he keeps on denying he will run.

Here’s why Duterte could win in the 2016 presidential race: He has a mass base. He is a Cebuano-speaking Visayan, reportedly the largest ethnic group in the country.

Cebuano Visayans are regionalistic; they will vote for someone of their own running for  national office. Most of the people of Mindanao and one-half of the Visayas are Cebuano speakers. Voters in Metro Manila, the most populous region in the country, and other places in Luzon may go for Duterte because they want a national leader who can solve the high crime rate, never mind how  he does it. The tough-talking Duterte walks his talk. He has cleaned up Davao City of hooligans, making it one of the safest cities in the world.