Elections are too far away for any politician who is confident his performance will endear him or her to the electorate to think about now. But this is not what is happening in Davao del Norte, literally the banana republic of the Philippines.
The incumbent governor, Edwin Jubahib, called a press conference solely to discredit 2nd District Representative Alan Dujali over issues that could boomerang against himself.
His childish peroration can be briefly summarized into allegations that Congressman Dujali did nothing to work for funding to repair an old steel Tuganay bridge on the Daang Maharlika highway in the province.
He claimed that it was he who worked for the release of funds. He missed out on the fact that then-Acting Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Roger Mercado had a series of meetings with Dujali and provincial engineers at the Dusit Hotel in Davao City. Mercado took over the helm of DPWH on 14 October 2021 after Secretary Mark Villar relinquished the post to run for senator.
Jubahib forgot or is simply stonewalled on the fact that fund allocations for national government projects are initiated through legislative actions of congressional representatives.
Either that or he simply does not know what Congress is all about and how project appropriations are worked out.
In what could be the height of absurdity, Governor Jubahib chided Rep. Dujali for staying in Manila most of the time, displaying his obvious ignorance that the House of Representatives holds sessions in the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.
But of course, every sound bite has nothing but political undertones.
In fairness, Dujali was on top of everything. Based on congressional records on the funding of the Tuganay Bridge, Tagum-Panabo circumferential roads, schools, and several other projects, Dujali pushed for fund allocations for these.
Now in his second term, Congressman Dujali has so far raised P15 billion in budgetary allocations based on various legislations that he principally authored. No small feat given the fact that District 1 of Davao del Norte only had P700 million for the same period.
As I said, Gov. Jubahib’s diatribes against Dujali are replete with petty political stuff.
I don’t blame him though. This early, Davao del Norte is abuzz with talk about who’s who and who will run in the midterm elections.
There will be radical political alignments as shown by the body language of political leaders in the province. Dujali, a strong pillar of Hugpong ng Pagbabago, which is chaired by VP Inday Sara Duterte, did well in his district.
Tagum City, which holds the record of having the biggest number of voters than all other towns in District 1 combined, has become the formidable bastion of HnP with the return of the popular Rey “CO” Uy as City Mayor. CO is also with HnP.
That gives Jubahib the jitters and explains his premature tantrums.