IF PATIENCE is a virtue in politics, then 2022 may yet bring the sweetest payback for a battle-scarred politician who has been waiting for destiny to come along for more than four decades now.
For Board Member Rosve Henson, his quest for the mayoralty of the City of San Fernando appears to be within reach. His calm and cool confidence conveys the palpable message of how the outcome would likely be. His is the audacity of age and wisdom.
He’s now 61, becoming a political newbie at the age of 21, and into his second marriage that not only has proved his alpha male quality, but his mental and physical stamina that have kept him in steady strides through the ups and downs of his political journey. Using golf parlance as metaphor, he feels good at the front nine, but gets to be more excited at the back nine. His enthusiasm just about fills his cup to the brim. At this point in the game, he’s more forward looking and sees himself a better man from his political battles. His past isn’t only part of his political narrative but offers a fatter resume for the job he seeks.
He disagrees with the emerging notion that he likes his chances now to become mayor of the capital city of Pampanga. He goes one step further: he believes he has the better chance. In a 50-50 ball, that could mean the odds are in his favor many times over. For one thing, this time around he doesn’t have to unseat an incumbent. It’s going to be a vacant position when the term of incumbent expires. In a real sense, he has no opponents, only rivals.
He was already a very much admired local political figure when he first ran for mayor of San Fernando in 1992. He still remembers that he lost the race by only 1,000 votes. If only he had more in his pocket then, he probably would chalked up the prize. He vividly recalls that losing experience not with needling regret but with buoyant nostalgia about his raw sense of idealism when he joined politics.
Idealism still fires him up to serve eagerly as a true son of San Fernando. He loves his roots, desires to nourish them, and waiting for the time to serve his kabalen the best way he can. But he’s more realistic now, has mellowed in time, matured in the ways of governance, honed in the finer points of politics. Forty years is a long time, but it’s worth the lessons learned, the valuable political education.
Serving the people, he thinks, is a practical job that involves providing solutions to practical problems. And he can’t wait to get his hands on what he believes are the three important fields where he can impact the lives of his fellow Fernandinos: health, education and jobs. The city, he says, has the financial resources to address these areas adequately. It’s matter of allocating and husbanding them. He has already several slogans in mind that will come in handy when the time comes.
He’s firm and decisive about the formula to make things happen the way he envisions it. He will use the ‘Nanay’ brand as his template. He has learned the working tools of the template while under the tutelage of the former governor and now vice governor. He saw how it worked in the province. He doesn’t see how it will not work on a smaller scale. And with her on his side, failure isn’t obviously an option.
It’s a double – edge strategy. On the one hand, it’s an approach that is familiar and accessible to most people, especially the poor. On the other hand , it’s also an assurance that not only will the author of his governance inspiration be supportive of his plan in one sense. One would easily get the quick impression that ‘Nanay’ would walk the extra mile to make sure her study will be able to implement his vision for San Fernando true to her template.
Politics is mostly addition, and Rosve is quick to point out that he has the alliances he believes he needs when the race begins. Both Capitol and the Third District, including the city, are aligned .Talking about it almost like explaining a superstition that he sees augurs well for his mayoralty aspiration. It is as if all the bright stars in the firmament are in the right places at the right time.
In other words, people will soon take notice, will know and will be persuaded that this is one mayoralty candidacy that is meant to succeed because it has the necessary components to make it so. So will his rivals over whom he thinks he’s more than comparable.
Experience, political alliance ,maturity and means are seen to perfectly combine to power Board Member Rosve’s mayoralty lift off in few months from now. Rosve has no doubt, about his chances. His time, an ideal one beyond his expectation or imagination, may have come, indeed.
