Davao del Norte Governor Anthony Del Rosario displayed class when he readily conceded defeat and thanked his provincemates for the support they gave him as the province’s chief executive. Anthony lost to former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in the congressional race for the province’s first district in Monday’s elections that saw the Del Rosarios and Floirendo lose their stranglehold of what was once their bailiwick.
Anthony’s gesture is a mirror of political maturity, something that is lost in many politicians especially those who did not make it in the elections for Senator. We have seen candidates who failed in their respective bids to win a seat in the Senate who continue to whine instead of accept their fate. It’s pathetic to hear some losing candidates vowing to take the fight to the streets. This manifestation of unsportsmanlike mentality does not bode well for a democratic society–a society that exercised its sacred right of suffrage and expressed their choices manifested through the ballots. No single vote is a mistake or a bad vote. It is one’s expression of free will.
There’s also the disturbing statement opposition candidate Neric Colmenares who said he will not concede to a rotten electoral exercise. Just because he lost, he will consider the polls abnormal, is unacceptable. In the first place, why did he even join the senatorial race knowing fully well the odds that are stacked against any opposition candidate when ranged against the chances of those in the administration. Like cockfights, there is what you call ‘llamado’ and there is also ‘dehado’ in politics. There will always be a handicap of sorts for any opposition candidate. This is nothing new, unless Colmenares wanted everyone to believe his lame excuse.
There will always be statesmanship in politics where men of principle and class go down fighting and surrender to the supreme power of vox populi, vox dei.
And then, there are simply the stubborn ones who cannot accept that people have choices.
