Who is this mayoralty candidate from a city in Laguna who reportedly arrived late at an event organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the city?
This event, called "Unity Walk," was organized by Comelec and other government agencies to remind candidates and their supporters to uphold a free, fair, honest and peaceful campaign for the May 9 polls.
As the start of the campaign season for local candidates is set to begin next week —March 25, to be exact — the Comelec wants all candidates to pledge they will not stoop down and resort to dirty tactics to woo voters.
Unfortunately, according to a Facebook page delivering news events in this city, this one particular candidate showed up more than an hour late.
As a result, this candidate was only able to attend the picture-taking for the event.
His reported tardiness have made some of his would-be constituents wonder whether he really had the desire to serve them in the first place.
Clue: This candidate was also the one who's always shortchanging our reporters, canceling appointments for interviews at the very last minute.
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Allow me to tell you a bit about Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president whose gallantry amid the war in Ukraine have not only won the admiration of foreigners but have also inspired Ukrainians to continue their struggle against Russia’s invasion.
Zelensky is better known as a person “pushed to the stage” by a strange mix of circumstances.
A comedian by profession, he became a hit in his own country when he produced, wrote and starred in a comedy series called “Servant of the People” in 2015.
The sitcom follows the life of Vasily Holoborodko, an idealistic high school teacher who was propelled into the presidency of Ukraine after his rant about corruption in government went viral on YouTube.
Some four years later, the Ukrainian populace, fed up with massive corruption in government and wishing to bring Ukraine away from Russian influence and into the European Union, voted Zelensky into office with an unprecedented 73-percent lead ahead of the incumbent Petro Poroshenko.
Like Holoborodko, Zelensky found himself holding the nation’s highest office with no more than the support of the populace — and his promises to weed out corruption and solve the country’s economic and political problems — to carry him through.
But it was in the ongoing war against Ukraine that Zelensky found his voice, so to speak, with his resistance to Russian invasion and his decision to stay fighting in Ukraine despite offers for him to go abroad and set up a government-in-exile.
Some Filipinos have even compared Zelensky’s resolve to defend his country against Russian aggressors with the Duterte administration’s “passive” and accommodating stance towards China despite repeated incursions not only in our territory but our economy as well.
Their biggest wish? That whoever succeeds Duterte will be as “assertive” of Philippine sovereignty as how Zelensky did in Ukraine.