With former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV challenging incumbent Dale Gonzalo “Along” Malapitan for the Caloocan mayorship, he is going up against a wall—one built by a dynasty that has long established its name through patronage politics.

The Malapitans cemented themselves in Caloocan politics since 1992 through their signature infrastructure projects. Beginning with Along’s father, former mayor and now District 1 Rep. Oscar Malapitan, the family associated these projects with their political color, orange, branding them as their legacy. However, in their three decades of rule, Caloocan’s basic social services have been neglected. 

Posters highlighting Caloocan Mayor Along Malapitan’s plan for the city are attached to every lamppost on a highway. (Eunicito Barreno/Philippine Collegian)

Subsidies, spaces, and class slots needed by students have been either ignored or co-opted by politicians for their own interests. For instance, educational cash assistance from Along’s ally, District 2 Rep. Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, was limited to registered voters only.

Dismantling the Malapitan dynasty this coming election is a tall order. But against a people-centered campaign backed by people-centered governance, Mayor Along may finally witness his rule come to an end.

To counter Malapitan’s narratives on infrastructure legacy, Trillanes, for one, has to expose the city’s poor healthcare system and lay down to the people how he will address the inefficient service from the city’s main public hospitals. In fact, these hospitals provide basic medical services only, forcing Caloocan residents to rely on better-equipped hospitals in nearby cities. 

Trillanes’s nationwide reach, however, as a former senator and staunch Duterte critic, isn't enough to unseat the incumbent mayor. Many Caloocan residents were surprised when they found out that he had been a resident of the city since he filed his candidacy last year, indicating that he needs to make himself more visible in Caloocan through community engagements.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ endorsement isn’t enough; Trillanes needs to broaden his grassroots networks through community engagement, starting from youth leaders, community organizers, and up to progressive officials. The group “Volunteers for Mayor Sonny Trillanes” is a step closer to effective mobilization, but this needs to be strengthened, one way being through an effective media campaign centered on anti-corruption and crime eradication. 

Trillanes, to carry this out, can present himself as the new and better option for Caloocan by consistently standing firm against corruption and humanely eradicating the drug problem rooted in poverty in the city through rehabilitation. 

Although he exposed how the Dutertes monopolized the drug cartel in the country, he must persuade the people that former President Rodrigo Duterte made Caloocan the ground zero for extrajudicial killings, which persist under Marcos. For one, Trillanes can amplify campaigns of families of drug war victims towards attaining justice. 

Trillanes’s platforms, such as digitalization of local government processes, ease of doing business, improving the city’s healthcare system, providing house assistance, and monthly subsidies for teachers and students, among others, reflect his progressive vision for Caloocan, but this will only be made effective if it's rooted from the people’s lived experiences.

No wall whose foundation comes from a power-hungry political dynasty is unbreakable. With expanding grassroots networks through community engagement and people-to-people campaigning, paving the way for new and progressive public servants is possible. ●