The Politician's Gambit

“Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” The world of politics is highly comparable to a chess game. Chess and politics are neither a game of ideal moves; as a player makes a move, they are bound to face consequences. 

 

“Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” Politics is a game of strategies; one wrong move and your king will be at stake. One mistake in political strategy, and your campaign shall suffer. 

 

As the election nears, the campaigning of each presidential candidate has become intense. Moves are very much calculated at this point. Each campaign material or event was heavily planned all along. Like a game of chess, this whole election reveals its candidates’ scheme of tactics. Frontrunner candidates have each prepared their own moves, waiting to take down the opponent’s king–or should I say their co-candidates.

 

Reaching out to the masses and asserting them a helping hand, especially in these trying times is by far the edge of the Marcos camp against other candidates. According to the latest Pulse Asia survey, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. "Bongbong" is still leading by a significant percentage. Presidential candidate Marcos has only attended one presidential debate hosted by the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) and yet he is still supported by many. 

 

However, one of Marcos' campaigns engaged in a huge controversy. The "Len Len'' series directed by Darryl Yap was produced to campaign for presidential candidate Marcos however it seemed to have been a tool to harm the reputation of Marcos' most significant rival which is Leni Robredo. Many people say that this is not good campaigning to gather support for Marcos because instead of using their platform to inform the netizens about their plans for the country, they use it instead to drag another down. 

 

Presidential bet Marcos is known to be the leading candidate in various surveys. Could he keep his status up until the day of the elections when it seems like presidential candidate Leni Robredo has been catching up to Marcos’ game; it sure looks like Robredo knows how to play her moves too.

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“Gobyernong Tapat, Angat Buhay Lahat (Honest Government, a Better Life for All)”, Vice President Leni Robredo’s new tagline and promise to the Filipino people as she runs for the highest position in the government. 

 One of her most successful strategies is to conduct campaign rallies across the country, as different provinces recorded an outrageous number of supporters. Presenting her plans and platforms and introducing candidates that run along with her face-to-face to the locals has been the most effective way to convince the electorates to choose her to be the next President of the country (Philippines).

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In an interview by ANC to Vice President Leni Robredo’s spokesperson Atty. Barry Gutierrez, it’s the people who actively campaign for her that have been the game-changer on their journey. Volunteers' self-organizing, self-financing, conducting house to house campaigning, and initiating their act with their community have been the reason for the increasing numbers of people who want to support Vice President Robredo.

However, these campaign rallies are continuously being criticized because of the rumors that the attendees and participants have allegedly been paid to attend the said event, but their cry “Hindi Kami bayad!” (We are not paid!) and how they defended themselves by showing their wealth show that most of the supporters of Vice President Robredo are elites or upper class. 

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As the fight between these two gets more intense, more players get into the game. It seems that Isko Moreno has also been tying up to the two–revealing his tactics as the election nears.

Francisco Domogoso also known as "Isko Moreno" is the former Manila city mayor. filed his candidacy for the Presidency on October  4, 2021, with his Vice-presidential mate Doc. Willie Ong. Moreno is very bold in supporting Pres. Duterte for the past years and he said that he also might continue Duterte’s plans if he wins for President, beside that he also wanted to represent the poor. 

 

According to Isko's campaign strategist, Lito Banayo, he is the only candidate that can relate to the Filipinos because of his life story. Isko has been making this as a tactic to pursue the people, his campaign advertisement "ako si isko" portrays that every Filipino is like Isko, Trying and surviving. "Ako kayo, hindi sumusuko'', is the phrase that isko has been using in his advertisement to let everyone know that he is for the people. Isko shoots a music video "Nais Ko '' with local rappers, Smugglaz & Basillyo and he keeps on using slang from the streets to show how much he can relate to most of the masses.

 

On the 24th of October, the supporters of Moreno started a “blue wave caravan” that shows thousands of supporters. After that in November 2021 also held another caravan. Moreno continued his campaign for the past few months. He also calls his supporters DDS, which stands for “Domagoso Diehard Supporters”.

 

Moreno indeed has played the game very well! At this point, even with survey results dominating the press, the election results seem to be more and more blurry–that is ofcourse, because just like the three mentioned presidential candidates, one more player has been keeping up. 

 

Pacquiao or famously known as “Pac-man” became a representative of Sarangani twelve years ago and was elected and took office as a senator in 2016.

 

It became a center of attention when Pacquiao ran for the presidency in October 2021. 

 

Manny’s top priorities if elected as the President are COVID-19 response and Anti-corruption. He urged a more efficient and effective pandemic response through mass testing and contract tracing. Manny also proposed a minimum salary of P50,000 for healthcare workers along with other perks. Manny has expressed his intentions in eradicating corruption in the government if he will be elected and that it will be his top priority. 

 

Pacquiao is surely known as an immensely religious person. It is nice to see him being the way he is, especially when he asks for God’s assistance whenever preparing a boxing match. But to mention something religious in a political speech or debates is a huge NO. 

 

Just like his stand on same sex marriage during the CNN PH Presidential debate, he said,”...mahirap naman yung pipilitin mo yung sarili para sang-ayunan mo sila na magkakasala ka naman sa panginoon…”

 

This stand of Pacquiao on relevant issues on society like the rights of the LGBTQI community has resulted in people criticizing and questioning his capability of being the President if he cannot stop interfering his Christian beliefs on political and societal matters.

 

It somehow shows that Pacquiao’s religious beliefs outweighs his political knowledge, thus resulting to him being incompetent in resolving  some of the country’s problems. 

 

Immersing oneself in a community during a campaign might be a good way to show people that the candidate is serious about what they do. But giving money to people while campaigning can be a little bit off. This was done by Pacquiao on October 14, last year in Batangas. It’s like he’s low-key vote-buying but then he insisted because he’s been doing it even before running as a president. 

 

Will the “people’s champ” get to keep his number of winning records, or will he lose the presidential seat to other candidates? Who knows–maybe the election victor wouldn’t come from those abovementioned candidates; it could be someone who’s been keeping it low, hiding in his tactics like Ka Leody.

 

Leodegario de Guzman, more known as “Ka Leody '' appears mostly in media interviews, forums, and debates and has the intention to show the public what he has endured and encountered as an individual coming from the bottom of the societal status. He shows his relationship and sympathy towards the other people by showing them that his and his potential supporters' experiences are somewhat similar in the way that they both have had to face the most difficult hardships in terms of working as simple laborers. His vision for politics aims to end the issues regarding the incidents toward labor issues. He intends to put a stop to “Endo'', a short term for end-of-contract or the termination of a worker's fixed short-term employment which is implemented by major companies in the Philippines to reduce the labor fees. He aims to gain the votes of workers.

 

In spite of having financial incapacity to create grand campaigns, his recognition of the upcoming elections began rising after having been on a few publicity materials across different pages and posts on a wide variety of social media platforms. Ka Leody’s appearance to the public gives the impression that he is someone with nothing but pure intentions for the country; however, he is someone who has been having a difficult time gathering his supporters and disseminating his influence across the people of the country for the reason that his fund for the campaign does not meet the necessary amount to spread his views, platform, fame and plans towards the potential supporters and other people.

 

Will his schemes redeem him his presidential seat? The results now boil down to one last candidate whose moves have been quite flashy–blocking netizens on Twitter is the modern-day way to mum haters. Quite a move!

"Ang tama, ipaglaban, ang mali, labanan." That was Senator Ping Morena Lacson's tagline. 

He has participated in campaign events such as debates, and he has visited different provinces in Luzon for a series of consultation meetings. They launched their proclamation rally at the City of Imus Grandstand and Track Oval at the official start of the 2022 Philippine presidential election campaign period on February 8, 2022. He also invested in political advertisements focused on his platforms and programs.

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He said at Imus Proclamation Rally, "It is a great challenge, but we need to restore the trust of our people in the government and in the leaders of the country." It is a challenge that is hard to overcome because of the issues that are happening in the Philippines. He also added that one of his platforms is "Ayusin ang gobyerno, para maging maayos ang buhay ng bawat pilipino." Lacson plans to restore public trust in government by improving the country's pandemic response, rooting out corruption in the bureaucracy, and encouraging local governments to become more self-sufficient.

As the battle for the seat gets tougher, the calls for candidates to withdraw has become louder. Despite that, the frontrunner candidates are keen in fighting for the presidential seat and with the current campaign performance of each candidate, it all just boils down to who plays the game better. In the end, as quoted by Siegbert Tarrasch, “one doesn’t have to play well, it’s enough to play better than your opponent.”