The Two Mayors of Senator Ninoy Aquino

I long wanted to write about the local politics in the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. I wanted the first story to be about the 2013 elections, when another set of officials were, at least in theory, chosen by the people. Alas, I could not find the final and official results of the local elections online. Weeks after the elections, the Comelec website had nothing but partial results for Senator Ninoy Aquino, with only 7 percent or so of election returns processed. Now it already has the final results, but it only shows the total number of votes garnered by the winning mayor and vice mayor.

So instead of giving you the list of my hometown's new "public servants," I will just talk about the two men who have been tugging away from each other the municipal hall like kids fighting over a toy truck (or a doll, for that matter). For several elections now, Dante Manganaan and Rafael Flauta Jr. have been clashing against each other for the mayoralty seat. Their rivalry does not end during elections. Manganaan once questioned in court the legitimacy of Flauta's victory, and when the Supreme Court issued its decision, at one point, the two men both declared themselves mayor and marched to the municipal hall with their respective minions.

It all started in the 2004 elections. Flauta, a comparatively old hand in politics, won over Manganaan, a newly retired policeman, by 86 votes. In the 2007 elections, the two met in the battlefield again, and Flauta won again by more than a thousand votes. But here's the catch: in the evening when the votes were being canvassed, a commotion occurred. Explosion, gun fire, or some loud scary noise cut the proceedings short, and the board of canvassers fled to the capital town, Isulan, where the activity resumed. Comelec later declared Flauta the winner, but according to the tally of Namfrel, an election watchdog, Manganaan won over Flauta.

Manganaan brought the issue to an authority of some kind, the higher Comelec office or the courts. Fleshing out the details would take more space here, so you may read instead the Mindanews article and the Supreme Court decision on the case. To cut the story short, Manganaan turned out to be, or eventually declared as, the true winner in 2009. In the 2010 and 2013 elections, Flauta lagged farther and farther behind. But if you were to ask me, I'd say both of them are traditional politicians. Neither of them has elevated the municipality from its fourth-class status.