House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin shared her befuddling experience during the past election season wherein pro-administration local officials were allegedly left on their own to campaign for the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate.

Garin, a Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) member, gave this post-mortem in a 32-minute Facebook live video on Monday night, May 19 wherein she sounded equal parts confused, deflated, and dumbfounded.

"Sa totoo lang, ako bilang isang probinsyansa, nalito rin kami. Kasi hindi ko alam, ano ba talaga,12-0 ba? 11-0 ba? 10-0 ba? (To be honest, as someone from the province, we were also confused. We didn’t know, was it supposed to be 12-0? 11-0? 10-0?)," she said, referring to the number of Alyansa candidates.

"Of course nagpapasalamat naman ako kay [Navotas City] Congressman Toby Tiangco kasi kapag tinatawagan mo siya ay talagang sumasagot siya at ineexplain niya yung mga situation na medyo masalimuot doon sa Alyansa," Garin, a doctor, said. 

(Of course, I’m grateful to Congressman Toby Tiangco because whenever I called him, he always answered and explained the complicated situations within Alyansa.)

Tiangco headed the 90-day campaign of the administration-backed ticket.

"However, ang experience ko kasi sa dami na ng eleksiyong dinaanan ko, yung administrasyon ay may built-in na political machinery kasi nandyan yung mga Incumbent governors, Incumbent mayors, ay tinatawagan yan no, ini-involve sa kampanya," said Garin, a former Department of Health (DOH) secretary. 

(However, based on my experience from several elections, the administration usually has a built-in political machinery—incumbent governors and mayors are contacted and involved in the campaign.)

"So I'm not sure if it's only us, pero sa ngayon na nakakausap na namin yung iba, mukhang marami kami na hindi natatawagan. Yes, busy yung Alyansa sa campaign pero andun kasi yung machinery na pwedeng tawagan, kausapin, at sabihan kung ano ang direksyon," she said.

(So, I’m not sure if it was just us, but now that we’ve spoken to more people, it seems that many of us were never contacted. Yes, Alyansa was busy with the campaign, but the political machinery was there and we could have been called, coordinated with, and given directions.)

Citing an example close to home, Garin said Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas contacted him during the campaign period in a desperate search for guidance about the Alyansa slate.

"Nakakausap ko rin yung ibang mga governors, ibang mga congressman, ibang mga mayors. In fact during the campaign period, naging--Mayor Jerry Treñas was always calling me, nagtatanong siya, 'Ano ba yung nangyayari, ano ba yung status?'"

(In this case, I also spoke with other governors, congressmen, and mayors. In fact, during the campaign period, Mayor Jerry Treñas kept calling me, asking, 'What’s happening? What’s the status?')

"Eh di syempre ang sinasagot ko rin, 'Hindi ko rin alam eh (And of course, I had to reply, 'I don’t know either')," the congresswoman said, scratching her neck, as if to show her confusion.

"So sa pananaw ko yan ang isang factor kasi hindi mo alam, parang kanya-kanyang--parang you just guess what to do. Ganun yung sa pananaw ko lang ha, pasensya na doon sa mga--of course, with due courtesy dun sa ating campaign team," she said.

(From my perspective, that was a major factor, you didn’t know what to do, it was like you're on your own--it felt like you just guess what to do. That’s just my view, and I apologize to our campaign team—with due courtesy.)

Coordination with local officials was one thing; Alyansa's message to voters was another, according to Garin.

"In addition, kapag umiikot ako sa mga barangay at sa bayan bayan at isinisigaw mo, 'Iboto ang Alyansa,' ang tanong ng taumbayan, 'Ano po yun?' In other words hindi po nakarating sa baba ang plataporma de gobyerno ng Alyansa. And of course we keep on explaining na continuity, ganyan. Pero hindi specific eh," she said.

(Additionally, whenever I went around barangays and towns and shouted, 'Vote for Alyansa,' the people would ask, 'What is Alyansa?' In other words, Alyansa’s platform of government never reached the grassroots. Of course, we kept explaining continuity, but it wasn’t specific.)

She then cited Liberal Party (LP) candidates Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan and Bam Aquino as having a clear and specific message to voters during their respective campaigns. Both comfortably won Senate seats in the May 12 polls.

"Dun kasi naka-capture nung tao na itong mga kandidatong ito sa Senado, alam nila, naiintindihan nila yung plataporma (That’s why those candidates resonated with people—they understood and communicated their platform clearly)," she noted.

"Ang daming nagtatanong sa amin, 'Ano ba yung plataporma, ano yung makukuha namin kapag bumoto sa Alyansa?' We keep on explaining pero iba-iba ang explanation ng lahat. Kasi nga, wala kaming natatanggap na direktiba kung ano ang sasabihin," Garin said in her video rant.

(A lot of people were asking us, 'What is Alyansa’s platform, what do we gain if we vote for them?' We kept explaining, but each explanation varied. It's because we never received clear directives on what to say.)

"Again, we're not blaming anybody. Pero in the previous elections, ganun naman kasi talaga ang handling (But in past elections, this kind of coordination and handling was standard practice)," Garin said.

"Pasensya na ulit no, I don't want to blame anybody but let's call a spade a spade. Talagang maraming confusion sa baba (Again, I don’t want to blame anyone, but let’s be honest—there was a lot of confusion at the grassroots level)," she further said.