THE NAME’S AKIRA and boy do I have something to tell you. Recently, Pulse Asia released a survey for the 2028 Philippine presidential elections. While it’s no surprise that Vice President Sara Duterte has a strong chance of winning with 34%, radio/tv host turned senator Raffy Tulfo was just one percent ahead of her with 35%. Now, what I am about to say might simply make people wonder what on earth am I talking about but hear me out: I think a Raffy Tulfo presidency would not be bad at all.
When I heard Tulfo was running for senator and he got the third spot by the end of the elections, I thought it was a joke. But I realized that I was wrong. If anything, he is no Senator Robinhood Padilla because whenever there are senate committee hearings featured by the media, he was good at arguing when it comes to electricity and social welfare. This goes well with his background on television in which the people he helped in Raffy Tulfo in Action were victims of these socio-political issues. So just from that, his heart for the Filipino people truly shows, even if he wasn’t a college graduate at all.
“…there are those that are not college graduates like Raffy Tulfo but truly have the heart to serve.”
On top of that, its name recognition. Since he is extremely well known to the masses like the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ), his name has already been memorized by so many people. Hence, even though that’s how Philippine politics really works, he is already at an advantage whenever he decides to run for reelection or even to the next two highest elected positions in the country. That’s the reason why most of the people who are winning in elections are those that have made popularity whether they have been in politics or not. Let’s not forget, FPJ was chosen as the opposition candidate back in 2004 to challenge former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – let that sink in.
Now, you might be arguing that people who would vote for people like Raffy Tulfo are the uneducated ones. While there are arguments that can be made due to his background, I would counter argue that I can’t blame them for choosing that way because I mean, he literally helped a lot of people throughout his career and his story is very inspiring if you have watched his interview in Gandang Gabi Vice – wanting to help people in need so that they would not experience what he also went through. In short, all of those important talking points that I have expounded as well as the key in playing by the rules of Philippine politics just makes up a winning formula.
This is by no means belittling candidates such as former Vice President Leni Robredo, former senator Kiko Pangilinan and Atty. Chel Diokno who has legitimate credentials. However, we shouldn’t generalize that everyone who wins based on popularity is just jokes because there are those that are not college graduates like Raffy Tulfo but truly have the heart to serve. Isn’t the latter the one we are looking for? Like, if Robredo didn’t have those credentials but the passion for service is within her, wouldn’t we still vote for her regardless? I mean, even the ones with the better credentials can also be the most corrupt. If the opposition really doesn’t want Sara Duterte to be the next president of our country, then they really need to be practical in winning the elections. A clean record and good intentions would not bring candidates anywhere close to victory. Sometimes you just really must play dirty just so that you can get the platform to correct society and the state in general.
And I voted for Robredo and her entire slate and look how that turned out. Only Senator Risa Hontiveros, the rose among thorns, was able to sneak into victory, probably because she ran three times, and her name is already recognizable. But that’s not the point. As the saying goes, when in Rome, do what the Romans do. Sometimes, we must embrace the weakness of the Filipinos, just play the game like how they do it just so that we can finally put our country on the right track. But hey, that’s just my thoughts on this matter.