DEFINITELY WE WILL NOT SEE in the May 2010 political exercise the pairing of heavyweights in Camarines Sur in what could be the “Thrilla in CamSur.” What we will miss is a 12-round punch-for-punch exchanges that would keep us on the edge of our seat. Who will not feel a loss in not seeing the bout either between Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte and City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo or between CamSur Governor Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte and City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo!

        Chances are nil that Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte would meet his katongod ---- City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo who seemed to be evading trading punches with the Congressman and who sent to the ring instead former Congressman James Jacob. What we will miss more is the chance of knowing who between the two is the more popular one in terms of votes within the newly formed third district.

        Mayor Jesse M. Robredo has been claiming through his ubos-kun-ubos, gabos-kun-gabos campaign slogan that he has the popular vote of the City of Naga and that this is big enough to tip the lead Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte has in the towns of Calabanga, Pili, and Ocampo. Without the figures from these towns and the city there is no telling who really is more popular.

        Fielding former Congressman Jacob to run for representative of Camarines Sur in the third district on the excuse that Mayor Jesse M. Robredo would be in the thick of campaigning for Noynoy Aquino-Mar Roxas tandem does not seem to hold water. Robredo’s popularity in Naga City is a given, but outside the city, his popularity cannot be established, considering the dissolution of the Metro Naga Development Authority by the municipal mayors who suspected that they were just being used by Mayor Jesse M. Robredo and that the benefits and privileges in which their municipalities expected to have a share never reached them. With such an unpopularity of Mayor Robredo in the municipalities around Naga City, his claim to give the Liberal Party the winning cards does not hold much chances for a pusoy.

        Chances are nil likewise that CamSur Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte would meet his katongod--- even with incumbent Congressman Nancing Alefelor’s throwing his hat into the gubernatorial ring. The governor, at this time of his stint in politics, is just too ready to have a face-off with City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo. Their bout could be a “return one” for the Governor who was trounced by Robredo a few years ago, when the former was just a tyro in politics.

        With the array of awards that CamSur Governor Luis Raymond F. Villafuerte has earned through the years, he has more than enough to set side by side with those of City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo. Villafuerte has earned world recognition for his Water Sports Complex and for his development of the Caramoan peninsula as dollar-earners for the province while Robredo has an investment code operational in the city which has been attracting investors, among which are the developers of subdivisions and the giant SM City mall.

        Congressman Nancing Alfelor, it seems, will be facing a giant in the May elections. In the Rinconada district, Villafuerte has virtually established a stronghold with his developmental programs and services, and with a line of festivals and entertainment that never before have been seen in the province. Besides, Alfelor is fond of closing his eyes while talking to people. The next thing he knows when he opens his eyes after punching wildly and blindly is that Governor Villafuerte is no longer in front of him, but has been proclaimed the winner of the bout, sworn to sit in the Provincial Capitol, and having a run in the waters, twisting in the air with a title belt on his waist, at the Camarines Sur Watersport Complex.

        Any of these heavyweight bouts could be very entertaining, to say the least, and informative, to say the most. The scenario in the district or in the province --- which in this decade we will never see --- could have been that of a high-profile political campaign, with very informative fora, worthy of emulation, far from the all-too-common and traditional warlordism that has plagued the campaign period in Maguindanao.