“Politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” Mao Zedong
By Alex P. Vidal
THE LAUNCHING of several “for
president movement” slogans in and outside the social media has become a fad
among political organizers from various regions nowadays.
The Ilocanos have launched the
“Bongbong Marcos for President Movement”; “Jojo Binay for President Movement”
for the people of Makati; “Rudy Duterte for President Movement” from Davao; and
“Mar Roxas for President Movement” for the people of Capiz, and so on and so
forth.
But we have yet to hear the
Ilonggos mount the “Frank Drilon for President Movement” battle cry.
Some remnants of the People’s
Reform Party (PRP), however, have started to inch their way to various
universities and colleges and re-echo the “Miriam Defensor-Santiago for
President Movement”.
Defensor-Santiago and Drilon
are two of the most battle-scarred and prominent politicians from Iloilo touted
by experts as “presidentiables” or potential candidates for the highest office
of the country.
Only Drilon, however, does not
have a known “movement” or group of supporters pushing for his presidential
candidacy in 2016.
MYSTERIOUS
We remember a mysterious
“movement” that emerged several years ago when Drilon was still the labor
secretary and subsequently the justice secretary under the Cory government.
This was the “Movement Against Drilon” or MAD.
Whatever its objective, how it
all started and who were its organizers, it failed to derail the senate big
man’s meteoric political rise.
Drilon is supposed to be the
most senior among politicians queuing for the presidency.
The senate president is supposed
to be among the closest to President Benigno “Nonoy” Aquino III.
Long before DILG boss Mar
Roxas earned President Noynoy’s trust and confidence, Drilon was already
working with the Aquino clan during the post-EDSA Revolution.
On July 28, 2005, Drilon’s
fellow “Hyatt 10” mutineers were already prepared to hand him the vice
presidency on a silver platter and install then Vice President Noli De Castro
as president.
This was when they called for
then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation in the heels of the “Hello
Garci” scandal.
Drilon has served as cabinet
official for five presidents in a row, and must have also been salivating for
the presidency ahead of Roxas and Binay.
Only Drilon himself can
confirm if he is really interested to run for president or vice president.
INTEREST
Ideally, the interest to run
should come first from Drilon himself, not from any “movement”, in the event
there is one.
But Drilon has been
incoherently passive.
Even his body movements are
formless in as far as the presidential derby is concerned.
Although both Marcos and
Duterte have not yet confirmed they were interested to eye the presidency in
2016, their respective ”movements” have already started juxtaposing and combing
the entire archipelago at fever-pitch these past months.
The Ilonggo votes are a force
to reckon with in the national elections.
We are the third biggest
voting population next to Luzon and Cebu.
There is an age-old political
wisdom that says if you want to win a national office–for president, vice
president and senator—you must win first in Western Visayas.
With all the support of
political bigwigs in Western Visayas allied with the ruling Liberal Party, we
are puzzled why until now no “movement” has snowballed to endorse Drilon’s bid
in 2016.
If he is not really interested
to run, no “movement” is necessary to push him.
Politics is not a game of
coercion.
We can bring the horse to the
river, but we can't force it to drink.
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