MEDIUM RARE

Who said the campaign season began two days ago? Whose calendar — drizzled with billboards, posters, leaflets — were we following since October 2021?

Thanks to the free-wheeling, frenetic, feverish, fiesta-like no-campaign period, we were entertained by news other than COVID, COVID, vaccines and vaccinations.

Were you and I surprised at President Duterte’s 60 percent net satisfaction rating — “very good” according to SWS, as good as honeymoon-worthy — and how shocking was it to find his VP scoring 1 percent? Can somebody explain how respondents gave the Chief Justice a score of 7 percent when he has hardly warmed his seat and, let’s face it, how many people are familiar with the Supreme Court and how the justices work?

Politics as a carnival of characters? It’s not hard to understand why Gringo Honasan, who led the revolt against Ferdinand Marcos side by side with his defense secretary, Juan Ponce Enrile, would land on the senatorial slate of Marcos Jr. decades later. True, the BBM-Sara UniTeam espouses unity, but recall that FM Jr.’s mother, who upon the family’s return from exile and without hesitation, did the unthinkable by choosing JPE to be her legal counsel!

How entertaining was it to watch how days after the KBP forum which he snubbed, editorialists and commentators continued to flay BBM for his absence, as a consequence of which his name was mentioned more times than if he had been present. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, before and after Valentine’s Day!

A wizened senior citizen inside the BBM camp could not help rubbing his hands in glee. “Smart kid,” he quipped. He could’ve added, bring it on! The January surveys conducted by a private group gave the candidate 64 percent, up from 58 last November.

Without fanfare typical of election entertainment, Mike Velarde has formed a new party-list, after vice presidential candidate Lito Atienza, owner of the name Buhay, joined Manny Pacquiao’s team. With Willie Villarama as chairman and president and Bro. Mike as spiritual adviser giving his blessings, the new entity is called Pamilya Muna #76, whose aim is to help families navigate the rocky terrain of teen pregnancies, substance abuse, single parenthood, et al.

“We’ll need a data bank to facilitate the work,” said Willie. The best technology has a human face.