Critics of President Gloria Arroyo appear to be in a joyful mood in the wake of growing expectations that the President’s half-sister, Cielo Macapagal-Salgado, is contemplating to run for congressman in the Second District of Pampanga—the same district wherein the President reportedly plans to run for a seat in the House of Representatives. According to the rumor mill, Macapagal-Salgado, who once served as vice governor of the province, will run “regardless of whether her nephew, Rep. Mikey Arroyo or President Arroyo herself will seek the same office.”

The reason for the critics’ buoyant mood is understandable. AMacapagal vs. Macapagal bout in their home province would add fuel to the impression that the President’s clan is divided by internal rift. Such will be embarrassing to the Chief Executive.

We do not know whether the Macapagal-Macapagal bout would materialize. Recent newspaper reports quoted the presidential half-sister as saying she was “unsure” if she would go ahead with her congressional plan. As for the President taking a crack at the congressional post in the coming polls, that remains speculative at this point in the absence of a categorical confirmation from her.

But assuming there is  basis for the speculation, the President’s critics are advised to temper their celebratory mood. They are hoping to see her being trounced at the polls on the basis of her unpopularity and the continuing hate campaign being mounted by the opposition.

Before Macapagal-Salgado loomed as a potential contender in Pampanga’s Second District, a UP professor who writes a column in another newspaper had already declared that if President Arroyo would run for congressman in that district, he would challenge her candidacy.The good professor is known to be a consistent critic of his cabalen, the present Malacañang occupant.

And of course, there is an ongoing debate over the wisdom—or the lack of it—in the President’s aiming for a congressional seat. Former President Fidel Ramos thinks that this is a ridiculous move because this is tantamount to a demotion. A lot of people suspect that this is part of Mrs. Arroyo’s strategy to counteract her political foes’ effort to initiate criminal charges against her over her wrongdoings in office. The charges will be filed against her after her exit from the presidency when she loses her immunity from suit. But it must be understood that a congressional seat does not confer similar immunity on the holder of the position. To a certain degree, it gives a congressman a semblance of protection, especially from harassment by the authorities.

It is not our job to justify the President’s run for Congress. She has enough apologists to explain the rationale for her political moves. What we simply want is to underscore the fatal error in assuming that her wish to get elected congressman may be frustrated because the public is disenchanted with her administration and there is no letup in the hate-Gloria drive by her bashers and opponents.

The truth is that at the local level, people vote for candidates to public office who they think can deliver on the promise to make their lives better. It will be difficult for the President’s opponents to persuade their provincemates to junk their favorite daughter and cast their lot with her foes. Especially if her challenger cannot offer them  something more than the ability to fan the embers of hatred against her.

Let us face it: If President Arroyo goes ahead with her congressional bid, it would be very hard to defeat her.  With resources at her disposal, she has already done a lot for her district in terms of projects which the local folk could not help but appreciate. These projects have made them feel indebted to her. Naturally, they are inclined to think that she can do more for them once she is installed in Congress—even if they know that she is sliding down to a position much inferior to the one she is holding now.

And that’s the problem the President’s adversaries have to wrestle with. At the local level, the people prefer doers to talkers—candidates  who can deliver to those who are merely good at campaign speeches.  That explains why congressmen who have a good track record in implementing pork barrel projects in their districts always get reelected even they do not get any media exposure throughout their terms.

Thus, we seriously doubt whether the political brickbats thrown in Mrs. Arroyo’s direction by her harshest critics will turn off her constituents and weaken her winning chances in the congressional race. Pragmatically speaking, the voters of Pampanga will not put down a leader who has brought honor to their province by becoming the second Kapampangan (after her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal) by serving as president of the republic. And if they gave her full support when she ran for the highest post of the land in 2004,  it is logical to expect them to give her similar degree of support for her congressional candidacy.

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In Quezon City, the entry of former Rep. Michael Defensor, who served the Arroyo administration in various capacities, has created more excitement in the hotly-contested  mayoral race. It has given the residents of the premier city a wider choice for the much-coveted post.

Undeniably, Defensor became a controversial personality especially because of the key role he played as defender of President Arroyo during the periods when her government was under siege from forces that wanted to topple her from power.  Feeling threatened by Defensor’s emergence as a strong mayoral bet,  his political rivals reportedly plan to hold a caravan around the city by painting  an unflattering portrait of him in their aim to ruin his chances at the polls.

But such tactic could just be a waste of time and even backfire.

Again, the planners of this move should take a close look at how voters decide at the local level. As we have said, they prefer action to rhetoric, doers to talkers.  Their problem is that Defensor is viewed as a person who gets things done.

With his youthful dynamism, he has carved an indelible image as an action man at the national level.  During his stint as a member of the Arroyo team,  he was known as presidential trouble-shooter more than anything else.  He became chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. He served as her campaign spokesman and head  of the media bureau during  the 2004 presidential election.

When the President won a fresh mandate, she first assigned Defensor as chief of staff and later as secretary of Environment. He also served as chairman  of the Philippine National Railways.

Quezon City residents give him a lot of credit for the modernization of the once-dilapidated Quezon Memorial Medical Center and for the many improvements in the Third District which he represented as the youngest member of the House of Representatives in the 10th Congress.

Defensor showed his brand of public service when he quietly conducted rescue operations in some flooded areas of the city at the height of typhoon Ondoy. Many of the disaster victims to whom he came for succor loved to recount how he came knocking at their doors and windows as the floodwaters rose to dangerous level, persuading them to evacuate their homes and bringing them to safety in higher grounds.

If his detractors push through with their planned anti-Defensor caravan, that will only reinforce the impression that he is indeed a formidable mayoral aspirant, a tough opponent so much so that they  are prepared to spare no effort to stop him on his tracks.