Central Mindanao Politics – Part 1 of a series
At first glance, there is no comparison between former General Santos City mayor Adelbert Antonino and Filipino boxing king Manny Pacquiao.
They were born in different times and circumstances – Antonino into wealth, Pacquiao in poverty.
One got the best education that money can buy, the other earned his high school diploma without even finishing elementary because his parents probably cannot buy him slippers to go to school.
Antonino belongs to a political bloodline that includes parents who both became senators, a daughter and a brother who are now members of Congress. So was his wife a member of the House of Representatives for three consecutive terms.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, wants to crash into that elite circle.
Adel is a staunch supporter of disgraced former president Joseph Estrada while Pacquiao counts on unpopular president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as ally.
But even if they have very divergent backgrounds, both share many similarities.
Both their wives came from Sarangani.
Both lost their initial foray into politics with Antonino losing badly in the 1984 elections for a seat in the defunct Batasang Pambansa and Pacquiao in the 2007 electoral exercise when he tried to buy himself a ticket to Congress.
The two command loyal henchmen on account of their wealth, although Antonino earned his from generous parents while Pacquiao busted his beak and put his life on the line in the boxing arena.
But more than anything else, the two, in squaring off in the 2007 elections, made elections in General Santos City an expensive political exercise.
Manny Pacquiao ran and lost against Antonino’s daughter Darlene Magnolia Antonino-Custodio and, in the process, also squandered tens of millions of his hard-earned dollars – some say P120 million worth of it.
The Antoninos may have also spent at least the same amount, if not even more.
Ever since Adel opted to make General Santos his adopted political base, the cost of running and maintaining an election machinery in General Santos have become a privilege of only the most moneyed of the local elite. (The Antoninos are from Nueva Ecija although they used to own Miludeco, a moribund logging company based in Kiamba also in Sarangani)
In 2001 and 2004, the Antoninos turned their political base into a vaunted machinery not even the Riveras, with all their vast business empire, could topple down.
In 2001 Ryan Rivera tried to unseat Darlene but to no avail. Three years later, he fought for the mayoralty seat in General Santos but likewise went home empty handed, if not with empty pockets.
Pacquiao licked his wounds in the trashing he received from Darlene in 2007.
Now, he is trying to do the reverse of what Adel did close to 23 years ago in South Cotabato and General Santos City – run and again spend his millions in Sarangani.
Sarangani, a fourth-class province is one of the poorest in the country.
Manny will try his luck and test his bank account if that poverty in Sarangani could be his lucky charm in politics.
Manny has set his sights in a province long dominated by the Chiongbians, and recently by incumbent Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez, who not even Adel dared to go against.
But he is up against not an ordinary political clan. Manny faces yet another moneyed opponent in the Chiongbians who have been a fixture in national and local politics.
Manny used to brag that his wealth was his and his alone while that of others was inherited.
Perhaps prudence should dictate that he keep his well earned millions rather than spend it in an election where the poor cannot even hope to run or even dream of being elected at all.
The irony is that Manny knew what poverty is and how it is painful and debasing to live with it.
And the unkindest cut of all is that Pacquiao will be spending money to take away that hope even more.
