Analysis on the Gadiano Victory

 

The people of Occidental Mindoro have spoken and through the ballot, they ended the 32 years of unblemished election record of Josephine Y. Ramirez-Sato, former vice-governor, governor, and congresswoman. The political trio known as TGT composed of Leody F. Tarriela, Gov. Eduardo B. Gadiano, and Diana C. Apigo-Tayag won a landslide victory against their separate rivals for congressional, gubernatorial, and vice-gubernatorial seats, respectively.

In 2019, when Sato overpowered Mayor Juan M. Sanchez in her third bid for a seat in the House of Representatives, she confidently declared, “Hindi pa ipinapanganak ang tatalo sa akin.” (The one who defeats me has not yet been born.) To trace back, Sato was elected governor for three consecutive terms (1992–1995, 1995–1998, 1998–2001.) Then served her first term as congresswoman from 2001 to 2004. After Sato's first term as a congresswoman, she again served for three consecutive terms as governor of the province (2004–2007, 2007–2010, 2010–2013).

Then after her sixth term as governor, she has again elected as congresswoman of Occidental Mindoro until she was badly beaten in an electoral contest by Gadiano just yesterday, May 9, 2022. This is the first time that the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) did not endorse her since she started her political career. This is Sato’s first taste of defeat. This cemented the belief of the political observers that the leader from Sablayan who climbed the local ladder of authority is indeed capable of overtaking titans.

Gadiano got a whooping 150,627 votes over Sato’s 92,138 tally (As of May 10, 2022/2:32 PM). Out of the province’s 11 municipalities, Sato won only in Looc. Here is the breakdown:

1.      Abra de Ilog: Gadiano-9,721; Sato-5,513

2.     Calintaan: Gadano-8,808; Sato-4,529

3.     Looc: Sato-2,931; Gadiano-2,924

4.     Lubang: Gadiano-5,385; Sato-5,110

5.     Magsaysay: Gadiano-10,663; Sato-7,732

6.     Mamburao: Gadiano-13,610; Sato-9,809

7.     Paluan: Gadiano-7,038; Sato-3,553

8.    Rizal: Gadiano - 11,217; Sato-7,950

9.     Sta. Cruz: Gadiano – 12,953; Sato-6,163

10.                        Sablayan: Gadiano – 28,408; Sato-12,313 (Gadiano’s bailiwick)

11.  San Jose : Gadiano: 39,908; Sato-26,535 (Sato’s bailiwick)

I also attribute the victory of Gadiano and the rest of the TGT to good branding and effective narrative, its counter-propaganda initiative, well-oiled machinery, and the Sato strategy itself that backfired, especially the negative campaigning her camp employed like the supposed sexual assault, especially those fiddled by fictitious social media accounts and trolls, and paid radio programs, more so those hosted by a turncoat notorious radio personality based in San Jose. 

For me, the TGT and the Ganados employed a combination of competency-based and politics of discontent brands of political campaigning. It also thrived on the combination of both Change and Continuity that is common in confronting politicians who overstay in office facing an incumbent candidate. The issue of brown out, as I keep on insisting every now and then, became the burning issue at hand given that Sato had been in power, as they keep on saying repeatedly in every sortie, for 32 years. This shows the brilliance of the TGT's campaign operators and propagandists. This is the fruit of their hard labor.

Brownouts have a direct personal experience with all of us and aside from the best practices of Gadiano administration in less than 3 years, like the establishment of AKAP Hub, the sustainable livelihood program, the pandemic response related PPAs, the sea ambulances that had not been considered since the province’s founding 7 decades ago and the rest of the best practices of his government, played a major role of giving him a fresh mandate as the province’s chief executive. The TGT team also was able to touch and bring their message to the farthest sitios and even the geographically isolated and disadvantaged border communities while their rival concentrated more on the periphery than the countryside. Not to mention the baseless accusations painted all over concrete and conspicuous bridges in Sablayan. Such special operation exploded right at the very faces of those who masterminded it.

It is also worthy to say that the TGT and the rest of the so-called Team Ganado in different municipalities led by Gadiano himself, were able to articulately convey the message that they are being “dribbled” (from the governor’s own word) on the issue of the disapproval of the two annual budgets. How his office and the whole province’s delivery of basic services, projects, and programs were badly affected by the budget curtailment of the provincial board dominated by Sato’s political allies. Gadiano succeeded in telling the people that this modus will make the people, especially the poor, suffer more. That political "repeaters" are the culprits why we are still in this social mess. This includes the huge deficit in the public coffer when he stepped into office in 2019. But despite this, he was able to manage the finances and delivered priority programs and essential projects responding to the people's needs while the gargantuan loans of the previous administration were gradually settled. He dared to deliver even amidst the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. Gadiano delivered his message clearly winning inch by inch the hearts and minds of the common tao with utmost conviction, authority and fervor.

Being aligned with Marcos-Duterte tandem was also a big factor for them in terms of tactical alliance.

The people yelled out their discontents and anxieties through their votes.

Let the murky water of partisan politics settle for a moment.

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(Photo: Gov. Ed Gadiano’s Facebook Account)