No knee-jerk reaction on Defensor’s transfer to PDP-Laban

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- When big names in Philippine local politics jump from one political party to another, it is normally greeted with derision and mockery from the deserters’ hitherto party mates and rivals.

They are tagged as “opportunists” and dismissed as “balimbings” (fruit with scientific name Averrhoa carambola) or turncoats.

Such was the misfortune that befell politicians in Iloilo City led by Rep. Jerry Trenas and Mayor Jose Espinosa III, who abandoned the Liberal Party (LP) for the administration’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) last year.

Political rivals took turns in lambasting “ingrate” Trenas , Espinosa and some of their ilk in the city council.

Their political enemies also utilized the social media to ridicule their move to leave LP and embrace President Rodrigo Duterte’s political party.

It’s always an earthshaking event for their detractors; the kind of opportunity to skin them alive in public their detractors would never allow to slip away. Politics 101.

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Not in Iloilo province.

When Governor Arthur “Art” Defensor Sr. disclosed last year that he, his son, Iloilo third district Rep. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. , and 4,000 other local officials from their district will take their oath as the newest members of the PDP-Laban on January 18, 2018, nobody from the governor’s political rivals--or potential political enemies--raised a whimper.

Team Defensor’s scheduled “mass oath taking” would be administered by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez at the Pototan Astrodome in Pototan town, 30 kilometers north from Iloilo City.

No admonition even from Iloilo fourth district Rep. Ferjenel “Dr. Ferj” G. Biron, Rep. Defensor’s rumored rival for governor in 2019.

Rep. Biron, who admits he has big respect and admiration for Gov. Defensor despite his loss in the 2013 gubernatorial race, probably didn’t want to sully the Defensors’ significant date with political history.

It would be awkward for the lawmaker from Barotac Nuevo to criticize the Defensors’ transfer from LP to PDP-Laban if he was eyeing LP’s official nomination for the top capitol post.

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Some provincial board members and municipal mayors who have remained loyal to LP also didn’t find it necessary to rebuke the Defensors’ decision to transfer even for the sake of “check and balance” and, to some extent, publicity.

They probably got Gov. Defensor’s message loud and clear: he needed the President’s blessings for Toto Defensor’s candidacy in 2019.

From the very beginning, the governor never hid his cards and was even excited to immediately lay them on the table without beating around the bush: he wanted the congressman son to be the administration’s standard-bearer in 2019.

Defensor would have been chided both by allies and detractors as hypocrite if he did not admit his decision to walk away from LP to PDP-Laban had something to do with political survival.

Duterte's Iloilo visit

"You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way."
--Walter Hagen

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Expect the unexpected. That's the unwritten rule in any presidential preparations.
In a presidential visit, it's better to expect more, organize and plan ahead and be spurned, than to be lax, lenient, and sloppy and regret if shortcomings and any untoward incident happen.
It is given that a presidential itinerary changes even in the eleventh hour.
A pre-announced presidential visit isn't fixed.
It can be canceled or postponed for security reasons, among other valid excuses, anytime. Ditto with the composition of presidential entourage.
Only the heads of state can change their minds and won't get a rap on the knuckles as a result.
Iloilo City Hall in the Philippines said it is "unsure" if President Rodrigo Duterte will grace the 50th Anniversary of Dinagyang Festival on January 27 and 28, 2018.

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Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III, who reduced his expectations to 50 percent, cited the President's commitment to visit India and Israel, respectively, this month.
Before Malacanang disclosed President Duterte's trip to India and Isreal, however, no less than Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque had confirmed that the President had already accepted Espinosa's invitation during a Malacanang visit in November 2017.
Even in disclosing the "slim" possibility of President Duterte's arrival, Espinosa nevertheless has made mention of the kind of security preparations that await the presidential entourage.
He gave potential assassins the idea that there would be two sets of decoy vehicles and a total of 20 back up vehicles.
President Duterte is probably aware that it is important to visit the Ilonggos during their cultural and religious festivities to at least bridge whatever gap inflicted by his series of bombshells against the "most shabulized city" in the coutry and his false accusations against dismissed Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog who is still very much popular among the latter's constituents.

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The scheduled oath-taking of Iloilo Governor Arthur "Art" Defensor Sr. as member of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) on January 18, 2018 will be one week short of President Duterte's scheduled visit.
Although House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has been scheduled to administer Defensor's oath together with his son, Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Arthur Jr., it would be more swashbuckling if the President witnessed the event.