Gerrymandering

NOT EXACTLY misappropriated, the word gained currency in post-EDSA 1 Pampanga when Angeles City voters were excluded from voting – and running – for provincial positions.

Gerrymander, Gov. Bren Z. Guiao was promptly branded by his critics. Seen as he was of having effectively shut out the biggest challenges to his hold on the governorship that could come only from the city which not only held the largest  number of voters but which also voted only for its own.

There was no actual re-districting, which ran short of the dictionary definition of gerrymandering – “the division of a geographic area into voting districts as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections” – but just the same was the end result of unfair advantage to Guiao, albeit perceived rather than proven.   

Current headlines in the local papers scream of the “reshaping” of Pampanga with the carving of lone districts for the cities of Angeles and San Fernando which would inevitably throw the rest of the province into some reconfiguration.

It is reported that both congressmen-elect Joseller “Yeng” Guiao of the first district and Oscar Rodriguez of the third have set their heart and mind to the task, along with board members, both incoming and returning, Rosve Henson, Tonton Torres and Cris Garbo.

“Pampanga is indeed ripe for redistricting and reshaping. In fact, it is long overdue and timely because the Constitution mandates redistricting every five years. Kayang-kaya iyan at hindi mahirap because most of the towns in the province are qualified in terms of population and other considered essential demographics. Through redistricting, lalong made-develop ang mga bayan because of additional funds since reshaping would mean more manpower. It is very positive and equitable.” So was Cong Oca quoted as articulating.

No scheming gerrymander but some liberal democrat befitting his world-class mayor legend there. His landslide victory over incumbent Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales proof positive of the absence of any hidden vested interest in his lone district intent.

On the contrary, Rodriguez may be playing with political fire with a lone San Fernando district, being not “native-born” to the city. Why, in his last election as mayor, his margin of victory over the then-ailing now dearly departed Tiger Lagman was but a matter of the Iglesia ni Cristo votes, notwithstanding his being world-class mayor and the very avatar of good governance, bringing to his city honor and acclaim from near and far.

If not for the public good then, it can only be supreme confidence in his political stock – legacy-building too – that caused Rodriguez to set on this lone district quest. Carpe diem, Sir.

Notwithstanding Guiao’s victory over native-born Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno, Angeles City will always be a sword of Damocles hanging by the thinnest of threads over the head of any non-Angeleno candidate in the first district.

Cries, albeit muffled, have been raised for a lone city district as far back as the first election of Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin in 1987.

It was widely, if not wildly, bruited about then that Cong Tarzan, though Angeles-born and -bred would hear none of the city being a district of its own because he held Magalang, his parental hometown, as his trump card.

No matter its having the least number of voters in the first district, Magalang being all his own served as constant tipping point to Cong Tarzan’s victories, as he can but even up or get only slightly higher than his fellow Angeleno rivals in the city and in Mabalacat.

The premium of Magalang to Cong Tarzan’s success is now most highlighted with his defeat in the Angeles City mayorship last May.      

Incoming Cong Yeng’s intent now to separate the city from the rest of the first district may well be seen then as gerrymandering. Coming full circle – it would most certainly seem – with the exclusion of the city voters from Pampanga politics at the time of his father.     

Whatever, Cong Yeng can always be consoled by the thought that benefits accruing to politicians from redistricting are but a collateral to the greater benefits to their constituencies.          

Returning BM Henson said it most succinctly: “The primary goal is equilibrium among the towns of each district, considering population and geo-political boundaries.”

For greater service deliveries to the people.