It’s election season once again.
Another time for us to set up our voting lineup, from senators down to local councilors. A hard decision, maybe, for all of us, who will be selecting whose names to shade that align with our values and principles, and we believe can truly lead our society to the better roads.
In an ideal world, that is.
But for a country whose political system has always been marked by demagogues, lapdog candidates, and those who see politics as their family’s heirloom, we are often left with no way around but to pick our poison — cast our votes for a preferable compromise — a years-long problem that needs resolving because we deserve more than lesser evils.
While a recurring and outstanding issue nationwide, this problem is most pronounced in local elections, the very foundation of governance in the country.
In many parts of Pampanga, locals are as if left with no choice but to select, or not select, a candidate who is the better of two bads.
In the province’s only highly urbanized city, the mayoral race pits term-limited Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Jon” Lazatin II and former Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde.
A fight between continuance of legacy and public service redemption, to put it simply.
Lazatin II, as a legislator, voted in favor of controversial bills including the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which gave the government with more leverage in red-tagging activists and those who stand in opposition to its vague definition of “terrorism,” and the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023, which allows the government to gather funding from state-run banks amidst unclear purpose of its use, among others. Recently, the younger Lazatin also voted for the naturalization of Li Duan Wang, a bill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. eventually vetoed over Li’s ties on the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) industry.
Parts of Lazatin’s lineup, including her vice mayor Ma. Vicente “Vicky” Vega-Cabigting, along with incumbents and councilorables JC Aguas, Marino Bañola, Cris Cortez, Edu Pamintuan, Arvin Suller, and Raco del Rosario, face a graft complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman over irregularities in hiring local government workers.
Albayalde, clashing with the Lazatin bet, is no better than the latter. The former PNP chief-turned-politician had been tagged in the past for police-related issues, being charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2020 for graft over a 2013 Mexico, Pampanga drug raid, and is implicated in what is known as “ninja cop” practices, or the reselling of seized illegal drugs.
Albayalde was also endorsed by the House Quad Committee (QuadCom) in December 2024 to be charged with “crimes against humanity” over the ex-PNP chief’s alleged part in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, killing 12,000 Filipinos, where the latter had served as the police head from 2018 to 2019.
Going beyond the boundaries of Angeles, Kapampangans face the same struggle of selecting between the lesser evils.
In the provincial capital of San Fernando, locals are torn between the power-seizing Pinedas under Mylyn Pineda and reelectionist Vilma Caluag.
Transferring residency from their bailiwick of Lubao, Pineda’s run is seen by many as a “consolidation of power,” aiming to hold the capital as a supplement to her brother Dennis “Delta” Pineda and mother Lilia “Nanay” Pineda running as the province’s vice governor and governor, respectively.
A clashing force against the political dynasty is Caluag, who, with her own deficits, was recently charged in April 2025 with vote-buying during her husband’s, Melchor Caluag, stint for captainship in the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
Same goes with other localities in the province: the Porac mayoral race features Jaime “Jing” Capil, dismissed from office over alleged POGO ties, and Michael “Mike” Tapang, who was also suspended in October 2024 for gross neglect of duty due to the POGO hub establishment in the municipality.
The Garbo-Aquino mayoralty clash in Mabalacat is no different from the said, with both Cris Garbo and Gerald Aquino, although dismissed for the latter, having faced graft and corruption cases over the approval of a P2.07-million government center project in 2023.
All that may just be some instances and are highlighted over the chief executive races in Pampanga, but they become testaments to the current situation that locals are left with no choice but to select the “lesser evil,” the better of the broken two.
If summarized, the 2025 local elections no longer become a battle over who genuinely serves the people. Rather, a contest between political survival and personal ambitions; a clash between the power-hungry and the opportunist. Where, with that landscape, losers are not those who are defeated in the race — but the people left behind by a system that favors power over service.
We don’t need another Lazatin, a Pineda, or someone who is there to merely continue their family legacy in the local politics. Nor do we need an Albayalde or someone as burdened by controversy to replace them. Instead, we deserve one who rises not from power or privilege, but someone who is from the ranks of the ordinary — they who understand our daily struggles and are ready to confront them head-on.
But in a not-so-ideal world like the one we have now, where choices are scarce, compromise may become our only plausible option. But until when will we compromise?
The more elections we select the lesser evil, the longer we will settle for mediocrity, and the more we will normalize and cement self-serving politicians in power. We can choose no one and make our votes our defining voice that we would not settle for less.
With limited choices likewise comes the call for those of the kind of ordinary masses to step up in local elections and be the foundation of good governance. And when they do, the public’s duty is to support them: redefining local elections from a cycle of merely passing seats from one tainted hand to another into one that truly embodies the needs of the people.
It’s election season once again.
Change may not be too imminent for the 2025 elections, but to stand our ground from this election and beyond will lead us closer to that ideal world — that world where leadership is grounded in true service, and accountability is no longer an ideal but a reality.
Godwin Pring is the editor-in-chief of The Angelite for the Publication Year 2024-2025, and writes opinions under the column “God ‘in the Masses.”
The views and opinion of the editor does not necessarily reflect those of the publication.
