Manila, July 15 -- In any contest or battle, knowing the terrain is the essential first step in proper preparation. Without doing a landscape analysis, no aspirant can hope to win. With barely three months to go before the Nov. 2, 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, the time for such analysis is now. An aspirant cannot just wait to see if these elections will be postponed or not.

A proper landscape analysis will allow the aspirant to gauge the probability of victory. Without measuring his/her chances of winning, then any decision would be pure folly. In assessing the landscape, one must know the number and location of voters to calculate the number of people he must connect with and the size of his campaign team.

The...