Raul Roco is running a ‘principled’ campaign that is short on funds but long on ideals.

	Roco in 1998: Gunning for the youth and women’s vote. [Photo courtesy of Malaya]

IF NEXT year’s elections will go the way of recent historical precedents, Raul S. Roco will likely become the country’s next chief executive. At least, that is what Roco’s handlers in his political party Aksyon Demokratiko are seeing in the political horizon.

The former senator and education secretary has been dismissed as having no formidable political machinery and money to bankroll his second presidential bid in 2004. But Aksyon chief operating officer Ernie Pangan says Roco can take comfort in the fact that the extremely popular Joseph Estrada trounced House Speaker Jose de Venecia of the well-oiled Lakas-NUCD juggernaut in the 1998 elections. Or that Fidel V. Ramos overcame the standard bearer of the ruling Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), former House Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr., in 1992.

Though not gifted with the same charismatic appeal exuded by the ousted Estrada, Roco has been consistently at the top of commissioned and independent surveys regarding voters’ preferred presidential candidates. This can be an indication of his growing popularity despite having been eased out of the political limelight following his resignation from the education department in August last year.

Pangan attributes this sustained strong showing to Roco’s performance as a public servant. “You cannot push a bad product,” he says. “You have to have a track record. If Roco’s record were bad, he wouldn’t be number one in the surveys.”

And for someone who has been in politics for the last 15 to 20 years, “he does not have the real stain of scandal,” adds Pangan. “Well, they’ve tried but nothing has stuck,” alluding to what he believes are contrived graft charges against Roco to undermine the reforms he instituted at the Department of Education and therefore, his standing with the electorate.

Whether the allegations are true or not (the case is being investigated by the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission), Aksyon is definitely banking heavily on the public perception of Roco as “the one with the integrity and honesty” or the “least evil” among declared presidential wannabes to make him win the presidency.

“That is his biggest asset right now,” avers Pangan, who thinks that with the enduring cynicism among voters toward trapos, people will go by who is consistent or sincere about his or her principles, or at least is telling the truth.

Pangan’s Formula for Success

1. Record

2. Sincerity

3. Reminding people of the evils of cheating

4. Hard work

5. Organization (getting like-minded people together)

Such an image is further propped up by the reform agenda that Roco, purportedly in his conviction that the people are now ready for reforms, has embarked on as campaign platform with the blessings of Aksyon party stalwarts and sympathizers. Roco himself has raised the ante by insisting that the reforms will have to start with the campaign.

“We do not believe that the classical way of campaigning will help us win,” declares Pangan. “As Raul puts it, it is not correct to win at all cost because that would mean we will have to cut deals with drug, gambling, and crime money. Then we should not win. That also means we have to have a dirty-tricks department, which will ruin the reputation of everyone else. Then we should not win.”

To many, the Roco campaign may seem a tad bit idealistic or politically naïve for its own good. Pangan claims that Aksyon does accept such political realities. But, he says, they have opted to traverse a different path. Or as he puts it, “We want a campaign we can leave behind to the country so that people can believe again.”

Pangan says they have a platform. But he acknowledges that people don’t look at such things. “Are you familiar with the medium-term development plan?” he asks. “For the last 25 years, this has not changed. Nobody did anything, they’d start and then corruption would seep in. We have a beautiful plan of government….but I don’t think it will get you votes. You have to deal with the parochial requirement that right now says they won’t believe your promises.”

Aksyon funds just about reach the minimum requirement to run the logistics of Roco’s presidential bid. Pangan also concedes that the political party is only as good as the coalitions it is able to forge ties with. To compensate for these, Aksyon is zeroing in on the more important aspect of the electoral campaign: organizing work among the people.

Since October last year, when Roco declared his intention to run, Aksyon has focused on getting people to support its cause. Volunteer groups have been formed, spearheaded by the V4R, or Volunteers for Roco, made up mainly of fellow Bicolanos. Students and young people have organized themselves under Aksyon Kabataan, the party’s youth arm, even as small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs, women and other regional groups also began banding together for Roco.

The most recent group to emerge are like-minded members of the 8th Congress of which Roco was part of as Camarines Sur representative. Calling themselves Reform-Oriented Citizens Organization (ROCO), they now form the core of the Roco camp’s political machinery, says Pangan.

By shunning money politics though, Aksyon will assuredly alienate itself from political wards that can deliver votes at the local level. But Pangan says they would rather rely on allies like Naga City Mayor Jess Robredo whose credibility as a public official “can bring in more votes than so many other traditional politicians.”

“Besides, if money is all there is to the agenda, then they already know which people they should go to,” quips Pangan.

For Roco to win, Aksyon is similarly pinning its hopes on the electorate not to allow that kind of a wheeling-dealing, more-of-the-same kind of campaign. “If so, then we get what we deserve,” says Pangan. “If we continue believing that someone without money and machinery will lose, then we are self-defeating. Ngayon pa lang sinasabi natin na walang pag-asa ang bayang ito (This early, we’re already saying there is no hope for this country).“ — Alecks P. Pabico