Quo Vadis? Part 1

I was surprised when I saw the 2022 Election results from Bacolod City and San Carlos City.

In Bacolod, Marcos got 121,179 votes against Robredo's 112,051 votes with a margin of 9,128 votes according to ABS CBN News Halalan 2022 website.

In 2016, Bacolod voted for Robredo (119,447 votes) as Vice President with a wide margin against Marcos (42, 923 votes).

It is noticeable that Robredo lost 7,396 votes during this year's election.

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Robredo was defeated in San Carlos in both elections (2016 and 2022). She even lost some 1,290 supporters during the 2022 elections.

In San Carlos, Robredo lost to Chez Escudero for the VP race in 2016.

Robredo got 13,769 votes in 2016 while she only got 12,479 votes for Election 2022.

In the same city, Marcos got 5,364 votes (2016) while his votes increased to 43,750 in 2022.

Leni's vote decreased by small margin (1,290 votes) but Marcos' numbers rose dramatically with an additional 38,386 votes.

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I will not pretend to be a political analyst here, but I want to pursue the question: why this happened?

Bacolod is the only town in Negros Occidental that flipped from Robredo to Marcos.

Is this because of the support of business tycoons, construction magnates and influential local officials who endorsed Marcos?

It is undeniable that the political landscape of Bacolod changed this year 2022.

Was the endorsement of the new Mayor-Elect of Bacolod, Albee Benitez influenced the voting preference of Bacolodnons from Robredo to Marcos?

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At this point,I would like to address the elephant in the room.

How about the Church?

The Diocese of San Carlos clergy endorsed Robredo's candidacy but she was defeated in the city. Was it a case of "too little, too late?"

The Diocese of Bacolod did not formally endorsed but many clergy and religious openly supported Robredo's candidacy. Did it influence the results of the election? If so, then what happened in Bacolod City?

To be continued... Is the Church still relevant to politics?