MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza A proliferation of candidates for vice president in 2022. And not a single brave soul other than Antonio Trillanes IV proclaiming his readiness for the presidency (though also for VP). A political analyst says it’s the smart thing to do, for a probable candidate not to show his hand too soon. Or could it have been President Duterte pronouncing a hex on those highly ambitious and excessively masochistic potential bets for Malacañang, “No one is deserving” to be his successor. Don’t show your cards. A high profile attracts bullets, bullies also. The predators will take you down like a sitting duck in a carnival shooting range as soon as you open your mouth to declare your love for the voters as their president. On the other hand, candidates for VP are less attractive as prey because their race is secondary, like a second thought, an auction for a “spare tire” and not the whole car. At this stage, the VP candidates’ names are a nice distraction from COVID-19, Delta variant, IATF, those vaccines that we keep hearing and reading about day in, day out. With PRRD leading the pack as a VP candidate, there are half a dozen other names that have a warm, familiar ring to them, names that we don’t associate with a pernicious virus that has killed millions. They belong to popular or famous persons who have been speaking up on this and that issue, some of which may even have relevance to our own unexciting lives. Among the names being floated are those from the “training ground” known as the Senate. Sotto. Go. Trillanes. And one from the House, Romualdez, who got a special mention from his highly placed sponsor. Before these surnames popped up in media, the surprise was Teodoro, Gilbert (or Gibo), defense secretary of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Another surprise was that none of the names of the probables belongs to a woman. So I’m sticking my neck out and making a wish that’s spelled GGG, for Governor Gwen Garcia. Would she have the heart to leave Cebu for the madness of national politics? If you don’t recognize that name, her middle name ought to wake you up. Gwen Don’t-Mess- with-Me Garcia. Go git ‘em, Gwen, this is your time!