(Part of OpinYon Laguna’s series for the 2025 midterm elections)
Politics in Calamba City, Laguna, birthplace of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, has been vibrant, if not heated.
But it wasn’t always that way. Since the 1990’s, the Chipeco family has dominated the city’s political landscape as it slowly emerged from simply being the birthplace of Rizal to being one of Laguna’s fastest-growing cities.
By 2022, Calambeños clearly had enough of being ruled by a single family and ushered in a new era in their city’s political history.
For the first time in years, not a single member of the Chipeco family was elected into office in the 2022 elections.
It was Mayor Roseller “Ross” Rizal (who claims to be an indirect descendant of the national hero), Vice Mayor Angelito “Toti” Lazaro, and Representative Charisse Ann “Cha” Hernandez, who now lead the city with promises of a new leadership style.
Yet it is now becoming clear that the heat of politics in Calamba City won’t die down.
In fact, the race for the city’s representative is now taking a bizarre turn, as a prominent anti-leftist is now seeking to challenge the nascent leadership – purportedly through the same old tactics of black propaganda and “red-tagging.”
In past weeks, Hernandez as well as Rizal had been the target of attacks from fake "news" sites alleging that they have ties to groups tagged as "leftists."
Hernandez, in particular, was accused of using her position and government programs such as the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) to support leftist individuals and groups, including suspected members of “Communist terrorist groups” (CTGs).
To date, Hernandez and Rizal have yet to respond to these allegations.
Connecting the dots
As had been discussed earlier in this newsmagazine, the mere fact that these fake “news” pages on social media have taken pains to conceal their identities have made it hard to pinpoint the people behind these black propaganda against Hernandez.
However, political analysts see a possible link between the “leftist” allegations against Hernandez and the sudden emergence of Marie Cardema, wife of National Youth Commission (NYC) Chairman Ronald Cardema, as a possible contender for being the city’s representative. (Other potential candidates for representative of Calamba City include incumbent city councilor Saturnino Lajara and Gino Salom.)
“Biglang naglitawan ang mga poster ni Marie Cardema sa buong lungsod, tapos yung social media pages niya, ang nakalagay na ay ‘Ate Cong Marie,’” sources informed OpinYon Laguna.
Ronald Cardema, a native of Calamba City, was the founder and former representative of the Duterte Youth partylist, which currently had one member in the House of Representatives.
The Duterte Youth partylist has acquired a controversial character because of its name, its feud with former Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, and also because of accusations that Cardema and his allies have engaged in indiscriminate “red-tagging” (accusing individuals and groups of connections to CTGs) against opponents of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“You just connect the dots – the incumbent representative of Calamba City is being accused of supporting ‘leftists,’ and here comes a contender who is decidedly anti-Communist. Hindi na nakakagulat,” a political analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity told OpinYon Laguna.
But could Hernandez’s (as well as Rizal’s) track record really deflect these accusations of being associated with the Left?
“It depends,” the political analyst said. “On one hand, hindi pa rin maitatangging effective pa ring panakot sa mga botante ang maging associated ka sa mga maka-kaliwa, lalo na’t matindi ang kampanya ngayon ng pamahalaan upang wakasan na ang Communist conflict. On the other hand, hindi maitatangging ibinoto ng mga Calambeño sina Hernandez at Rizal dahil sawa na sila sa isang sistema ng gobyerno na iilan lang ang nakikinabang.”
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