Drilon ignores Padilla’s braggadocio

“The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.”

—Jackie Robinson

By Alex P. Vidal

 

ILONGGOS were worried that retired former senator Franklin Drilon might be bullied by the bakya fans of Senator Robin Padilla if the Iloilo leader dignified the former movie action star’s braggadocio in reaction to Drilon’s concern for the “deteriorating” Senate prestige.

Padilla is the matinee idol of those who mistook the Senate race for an election for the most popular celluloid leading man, with due respect to his 26 million voters.

And they mushroom in the social media, the most powerful and brutal tool to make and unmake any aspiring candidate for a higher office.

Luckily, Drilon didn’t glorify the brat’s saber rattling. It was enough, as a moral duty, that he aired his concern for the Upper Chamber of Congress as an institution after some senators he didn’t name were supposedly lacking decorum.

Drilon had also lamented “a very noisy Senate session” as well as the use of expletives by some senators during committee hearings or sessions captured “live” on national TV.

 

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The Iloilo statesman had also appealed to Senate President Miguel “Migz” Zubiri and other senators to uphold respect and honor at the Senate.

But Zubiri, who has reportedly presidential ambitions, didn’t say something about the issue. Apparently he chickened out for fear of being lambasted by the social media hooligans who worship the former “Bad Boy” of Philippine showbiz. 

Padilla argued that the latest batch of senators should not be dismissed as jesters since the problems inherited from so-called honorable senators are anything but amusing.

“Ang Senado po ngayon ay hindi nagpapatawa dahil ang minana namin na suliranin ng Bayan mula sa mga nagdaan na kagalanggalang at honorable senators ay hindi katatawanan,” he said. “Seryosong pamana ito na dapat hinaharap ng may positibong pananaw.”

Padilla, who spent years in the National Bilibid Prison for gunrunning, recently stirred controversy for combing his mustache while in Senate hearings.

 

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AIR QUALITY DETERIORATES ANEW.  I received an email June 28 from New York Governor Kathy Hochul which was also received by other New York residents:

Alex, Air quality is deteriorating very quickly in New York State as a result of the Canadian wildfires.

New Yorkers should be prepared for Air Quality Index levels ranging from 'Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups' to 'Unhealthy' throughout the state today and tomorrow.

But as we saw a few weeks ago, conditions can change very quickly — with potential for temporary spikes to reach 'very unhealthy' or 'hazardous' levels.

As we continue to closely monitor conditions, we’re getting the word out to commuters from Buffalo to Brooklyn on air quality conditions and how they can protect themselves. From PSA messages on freeways to working with transit companies across the state to share audio and visual messages with riders, we’re making sure New Yorkers can get prepared.

Earlier this month, we made one million masks available for New Yorkers, and we are distributing these high-quality, N95-style masks again to make sure everyone can protect themselves from the smoke and haze.  

If you ride MTA, LIRR, or Metro-North, click here to find a list of locations where you can get a free mask.

If you live outside the New York City metro area, check with your county for more information on where you can get a free mask.

As we continue to closely monitor conditions, please stay up to date on the latest information and take appropriate steps to protect their health — especially if you are in a vulnerable group.

Vulnerable groups include children under 18, adults 65 and older, and those with cardiovascular disease (e.g., congestive heart failure, history of prior heart attach) or lung disease (e.g., asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

How to keep track of air quality:

Use your phone's weather app 

Visit airnow.gov 

Visit the DEC website

Call the air quality hotline: 800-535-1345

Take steps to protect yourself if air quality becomes unhealthy:

Limit time outdoors 

Close windows 

Consider wearing a high-quality, well-fitted mask 

Stay safe, New York. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul

 

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In a CNN report, doctors are questioning a study that suggests a link between hormone replacement therapy and dementia. Women in their 50s who use estrogen and progestin hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms had an increased risk of dementia within 20 years, a study found. 

However, experts say the study is unable to draw a direct connection to later-life dementia and that the overall benefits of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, outweigh the risks. 

Women who have hot flashes, mood changes or sleep issues—all of which affect cognition—are more likely to seek out and use HRT, said Dr. Kejal Kantarci, a professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “That means women who choose to use hormone therapies may actually be the ones who are already at risk for dementia,” Kantarci said.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)

Elect Drilon as president if we want a mega bridge

 “Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower

 By Alex P. Vidal

 

COVID-19 pandemic will always be a convenient and, perhaps, the most “justifiable” excuse if the Duterte administration will not implement the construction of the ambitious Iloilo–Guimaras–Negros–Cebu Link Bridge while the Filipinos struggle to overcome the coronavirus tragedy and the government prioritizes the grand plan to rescue the slumping economy.    

In other words, the mega bridge, with a total length of 4,000 m (13,000 ft) (Phase I); 12,000 m (39,000 ft) (Phase II); 8,000 m (26,000 ft) (Phase III) that crosses the Iloilo Strait (Phase I); Guimaras Strait (Phase II); Tañon Strait (Phase III), might never be realized under President Duterte’s centerpiece program, “Build! Build! Build! (BBB) Program”, that aims to usher the “Golden age of infrastructure” in the Philippines until the next administration takes over, or until the COVID-19 pandemic will cease to be the Filipinos’ nightmare.

In any given situation, major concerns like the well-being and health of the people will always be the top priority by any government.

The funds needed to purchase the vaccines are more urgent and important, and the funds set aside for the mega projects can be sacrificed, if necessary, to pave the way for survival of the people. 

 

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The mammoth project that will involve four big islands: Panay, Guimaras, Negros, Cebu might not be totally shelved, but it won’t certainly be in the front seat of the government’s infrastructure programs next year even if a budget had already been set aside as confirmed by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which had announced the timetable for the project’s groundworks as early as 2018.

Even if President Duterte were from Panay or Negros, he still couldn’t force the issue because his hands were tied and the sudden turn of events was beyond his control.

In this idiosyncratic circumstance where everything is still unpredictable, the President can bring the horse to the river, but can’t force it to drink the water.  

Coronavirus has almost become a universal catastrophe, not just a Philippine affair.  

The Philippine economy actually ranked among the best performers in Asia before the pandemic. 

 

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Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic Development Authority (Neda) chief Ernesto M. Pernia said they are well underway to covering most of the items in the new list of flagship projects — airports, bridges, highways and other ports, water ports and seaports. Mr. Duterte’s managers have reportedly expanded the “Build, Build, Build” pipeline, which now includes more than 100 big-ticket infrastructure projects.

If Ilonggos and Cebuanos really wish to expedite the construction of the mega bridge in 2022 when Mr. Duterte has exited, all they need is to elect Senator Franklin Drilon as president.

A President Drilon can fast-track the implementation of such gargantuan project—only if there will be no more pandemic, or if the people will no longer need the vaccines to be purchased by the Philippine government starting 2021, and which will eat up a large chunk of the national budget and gobble up the funds intended for other state expenditures depending on the COVID-19 pandemic’s length of destruction to the human lives.

 

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A President Drilon, who is a true-blooded Ilonggo, won’t allow a situation where he will be accused of ningas cogon if he can’t begin his charity at home, so to speak, once he occupies the top Malacanang portfolio. 

Even if he’s only a legislator, Drilon has successfully transformed Iloilo City as the new Singapore in terms of infrastructure development and tourism; he is now a cinch away from masterminding Iloilo City’s giant leap from a fastest-growing economy to become the mecca of trade and investment in collaboration with Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Trenas and the Iloilo Business Club, among other stakeholders.

In the recent Iloilo Investment Forum at Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo in Mandurriao district, Iloilo City, Drilon disclosed that he had proposed a budget of P800 million for the construction of the North Iloilo River Avenue. 

The big project will be a four-lane, 5.5-kilometer thoroughfare complete with an esplanade and a bike lane, according to the senator. From Molo district, and will lead to the Megaworld Boulevard.

It is expected to provide better access for the development of the Municipality of Oton as part of Metro Iloilo.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, is a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo, Philippines)

 

 

Rodrigo Duterte wrong to use SONA to hit Franklin Drilon

“Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes.”

—William Shakespeare

By Alex P. Vidal

PUBLIC officials, journalists, lawyers, students, social media account owners, plain kibitzers were right to claim that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was wrong to use the recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) to lambast Senator Franklin Drilon.

It’s not the right venue, crooned Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao, an independent-minded leader.

Iloilo third district Rep. Lorenz Defensor, another brilliant mind in the House of Representatives, had expected the president to focus on the government’s plans and responses to pressing issues such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, not to zero in on an opposition leader in the co-equal branch of government.

Criticism by any government official of a fellow public servant or whoever in the government service is normal, moral, and necessary but should be done in the proper place and time. 

When a public official attacks a fellow public official, it’s politics.

And politics should have no room in the SONA.

Politics is mudslinging. 

SONA is nation-building.

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Since democracy was restored in the Philippines during the 1986 EDSA Revolution, no president has humiliated an opposition figure in the SONA.

A SONA is too precious to be wasted in haranguing a fellow public servant. 

A SONA must contain the “state of the nation”— where we are now, what we have achieved, so far; and where (or what steps are we going to take) we are heading too as a sovereign nation. 

People are interested about the substance, not the personality.

When they are hungry and hankering for a food to eat, they aren’t interested anymore who cooked the meal or what he did before entering the kitchen.

We expect the decent personalities among those who idolize Mr. Duterte to have the moral courage to tell the president he was wrong.

It’s not bad to be an avid supporter of a mercurial leader, but it’s morally wrong to keep quite and give that leader an Emperor’s robe-treatment if it is obvious he erred.   

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‘THERE ARE SIX TYPES OF COVID-19.’ CBS News has reported that a new study of COVID-19, based on data from a symptom tracker app, determined that there are six distinct "types" of the disease involving different clusters of symptoms. 

The discovery could potentially open new possibilities for how doctors can better treat individual patients and predict what level of hospital care they would need.

Researchers from King's College London studied data from approximately 1,600 U.K. and U.S. patients who regularly logged their symptoms in the COVID Symptom Tracker App in March and April.

Typically, doctors will look for key symptoms such as cough, fever and loss of the sense of smell to detect COVID-19, according to CBS News.

The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, says the six different "types" of COVID-19 can vary by severity and come with their own set of symptoms.

The six clusters of symptoms outlined in the study are:

1.   Flu-like with no fever: Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.

2.   Flu-like with fever: Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.

3.   Gastrointestinal: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.

4.   Severe level one, fatigue: Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.

5.   Severe level two, confusion: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.

6.   Severe level three, abdominal and respiratory: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain.

The U.K. researchers also found that only 16% of patients with type one COVID-19 required hospitalization, compared with nearly half of the patients with type six, CBS News added.

Patients in the severe clusters also tended to be older or with pre-exisiting conditions and weakened immune systems, compared to those in the first three.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Iloilo teacher loses job without Tulfo

"If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself."
--Confucius

By Alex P. Vidal

HE didn't wait for a Raffy Tulfo to make him to choose between facing a criminal rap or resign as teacher.
The controversial teacher in Pili National High School in Ajuy, Iloilo, who reportedly showed a porno video to his Grade 10 students in a Science class, has resigned, Iloilo Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Roel F. Bermejo confirmed in a report on Nov. 27.
When confronted earlier by Ajuy councilor Angel Briones, the teacher reportedly panicked and did not immediately face the Sanggunigan Bayan (SB) member, who went to the school to check the report after he had been tipped off by some parents.
Did the teacher fear a backlash and disciplinary action from school authorities, or he was intimidated by Briones' involvement in the brouhaha?
It wasn't immediately known whether he resigned for fear of being investigated by the Department of Education (DepEd-6), or someone from the school, municipal government, or DepEd forced him to give up his job.
He remained anonymous though and might no longer face any case for violation of Child Protection, or any law that protects the welfare of children.

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The Ilonggo teacher's resignation came in the heels of a controversy involving Manila-based anchorman Raffy Tulfo and a female teacher.
She was forced to give up her profession after being threatened with a criminal case by the hard-hitting broadcaster, whose help was sought by the guardians of a high school student.
Tulfo discussed the complaint of a grandmother during a TV episode of his program about a teacher who "mistreated" her grandson after the student allegedly failed to submit his report card.
A video footage shows the 55-year-old female teacher sending the student out of the classroom to sit on a chair at the corridor.
The broadcaster gave the teacher two choices: resign from her job face criminal charges.
When the teacher decided to resign, the case became a national sensation and caused an uproar. Thousands of fellow teachers threw their support behind the female teacher in a petition and denounced Tulfo.
The netizens also reacted adversely against Tulfo, who was forced to defend his action saying he only got carried by his emotion as a human being.

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AS I had warned earlier, the dirty department might retaliate against Senate minority floor leader Franklin Drilon after his series of expose on corruption and incompetence involving the minions of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Amid Drilon's tiff against organizers of the 30th Southeast Asian Games led by Philippines Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) chief and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, a partlist representative sympathetic to Cayetano, et al, blasted the Iloilo senator in a privilege speech for allegedly cutting P2.5 million from the SEA Games budget allocated for the country's hosting, and increasing the budget of Drilon's infrastructure projects in Iloilo with P2.5 million.
Drilon described the partylist solon who attacked him as a "blabbermouth" and belied all the accuser's allegations.
So far, Drilon can handle the apparent retaliatory move from the druggles and grutnols who don't want to be interrupted while they are making a pile at the taxpayers' expense, and committing monumental blunders due to dishonesty and incompetence.
Ilonggos should brace for more attacks against their vigilant son and brother, Senator Drilon.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Proposed airport needs a godfather

"I approach each project with a new insecurity, almost like the first project I ever did, and I get the sweats, I go in and start working, I'm not sure where I'm going."
--Frank Gehry

By Alex P. Vidal

UNLESS Iloilo leaders will step on the gas and aggressively support and endorse the proposal of Passi City Mayor Stephen Palmares to build an airport in Iloilo's component city, it will remain a proposal and will just be a voice in the wilderness.
An infra project of such magnitude needs a political godfather, someone with a Stentorian voice and an earthshaking impact and influence in the national leadership.
Colossal projects are dream projects of every Tom, Dick, and Harry in public office, but the bottom line is always funds, the moolahs, where to get and how to mobilize them once their sources have been identified.
We are aware of the pesky bureaucratic red tape and maze the project will be going through once it will be taken seriously by the stakeholders and the implementing agencies.
We are also aware of the changing political climate which can serve as a game-changer and can ruin its implementation.

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We heard the mayor is mulling a private-public partnership so that a feasibility study can romp off. Nice idea and it should be pursued to the hilt.
Palmares has already reportedly forwarded the proposal to the Regional Development Council (RDC) headed by Iloilo Governor Arthur "Toto" Defensor Jr., but we have yet to hear more Ilonggo leaders getting head over heels on the proposed domestic airport for it to hit the ground running.
Filipino politicians are known to be jealous and don't want to be left behind when it comes to grabbing a credit and getting a publicity over certain grandiose projects and undertakings.
Let's hope Ilonggo leaders are not among them. Let's hope they will rally behind the proposed project and ensure that it will be given due attention by the national government after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has done its sight inspection in Santo Thomas village, site of the proposed airport.

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ILONGGOS should rally behind Senator Franklin Drilon now that he has become a "pain in the ass", so to speak, among the minions of the Duterte administration embroiled in scandals and anomalies.
For sure, Drilon, the legislative body's lone ranger in the war against corruption and incompetence in the executive branch, is now in the radar of the dirty department owing to his high profile sparring sessions with neophyte senators Francis Tolentino, Bong Go, and Emmanuel Pacquiao.
It was fun to watch how the Iloilo senator made a mincemeat of these characters, who are among the staunch allies of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, in the floor debates seen "live" by millions of people.
Drilon may have angered the demigods in the darkness furthermore when he recently blasted the administration's ambitious "build, build, build" program for its "failure" and delays.
And the latest to taste Drilon's fusillade was House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, his incredible P55 million SEA Games "kaldero" and all the fiasco related to the country's hosting of the biennial regional multi-sport event.
For the scoundrels and the mediocre, Drilon has become an obstacle and a thorn.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

No Ilonggo lawmaker is ‘pipitsugin’

"As lawmakers, our job is to listen to our constituents. If our phones are ringing off the hook with people demanding to know where we stand on an issue, we pay attention.”
--Chris Murphy

By Alex P. Vidal

NO historian will write about an Ilonggo lawmaker who is “NPA” or “non-performing asset” in both the Lower and Upper chambers of Philippine Congress.
No chronicler of the past will claim that legislators from the south are “no talk and, therefore, no utok (to borrow the late Senator Roding Ganzon’s bombshells).”
Almost all senators and representatives with Ilonggo blood running in their veins have given the country tremendous glory and prestige since the pre-war era, and the list of these outstanding lawmakers from the Western Visayas is expanding every election year.
When they are in the rostrum, Ilonggo lawmakers will make sure the words that come out from their mouths aren’t non-sense or will become the sources of humiliation for their heritage and culture.
This could only mean one thing: we have quality leaders and quality voters to boot.
One of the remaining few titanic voices in the Senate today is Senator Franklin Drilon from Molo, Iloilo City.

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The former Senate President made many Ilonggos proud of him when he recently schooled on the basics of parliamentary interpellation neophyte but aggressive Senator Francis Tolentino of Cavite, who probably wanted to impress the nation when he introduced some “novel legal theories” in his recent inaugural privilege speech.
Tolentino, a lawyer like Drilon, must’ve underestimated his colleagues’ capacity to think when he asserted that President Rodrigo Duterte’s oral agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping, allowing China to fish in Philippine waters, was valid and legally binding.
“There is no restriction on either the form or substance of international agreements,” Tolentino.
Drilon thundered: “Many of these I have heard for the first time. These theories, however, in our view, are not settled.”
The Ilonggo Senate Minority Leader, who believes that the best avenue to test the validity of such “novel theories” is through a committee hearing and not on the floor, added: “I am prepared to debate on the propositions here and now, but we do not claim to have a monopoly of legal knowledge. That’s why we qualify and deny the attribution that we are a legal luminary.”

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We saw how greenhorn Tolentino capitulated after Drilon’s barrage of snipes when Tolentino asserted: “There is no restriction on either the form or substance of international agreements.”
Drilon parried Tolentino’s theory: “Following this proposition, can the President of the Republic enter into an oral or even a written agreement ceding the island of Panay, even if it is contrary to Article I of our Constitution on national territory?”
Drilon pumped more bullets: “If there is no restriction as to form, can multilateral agreements be in the form of an oral agreement? I cannot imagine the difficulty of enforcing a verbal multilateral agreement. Can we enter into an agreement that is in conflict with the Constitution, despite the latter being an internal law of fundamental importance if we say there’s no restriction as to the substance of the verbal agreement?”

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Drilon showed all and sundry you don’t parade a shallow intellectual stunt in the presence of sharp-witted and sagacious legislators especially if you are beginning to make a name for yourself before a “live” session aired worldwide.
It was fine if Tolentino’s interpellators were, with due respect, the honorable Senators Lito Lapid, Manny Pacquiao, Bong Revilla, Bong Go, and Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Not Drilon. Not Sen. Ralph Recto and other remaining sensible senators today. 
And certainly not another Ilonggo intellectual behemoth, the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
We missed the best woman President the Philippines never had, especially when she unmasked the charlatans, head-butt the idiots, and clobbered the ninny lobcocks in a tension-filled privilege speech and nerve-biting but hilarious Senate committee hearings.
Tolentino and the pack of intellectual peacocks and rattlesnakes now occupying the Senate are lucky Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a true-blue Ilongga darling of the masa and a fire-spewing legal and constitutional authority, was no longer around.
Erap once quipped: “Pupulutin kayo sa kangkongan.”
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Drilon's help needed to expedite Treñas’ PWD bill

“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.”
--Stephen Hawking

By Alex P. Vidal

WE hope that before the Philippine Congress adjourns sine die on Friday, June 7, Ilonggo Senator Franklin Drilon will help expedite the passage of the senate version of the House Bill 9106 that seeks to grant additional privileges to persons with disabilities (PWDs) and will amend provisions of the Magna Carta for PWDs (Republic Act 7277), such as mandatory employment in government offices and corporations, including the private sector.
There are senators, aside from Drilon, who can help prioritize the passage of the bill within three to four days now, but the senior lawmaker from Molo district may hold the golden key since he is more closer to the heart of the bill’s chief sponsor.
The bill, authored by Iloilo City Representative and Mayor-elect Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas, was recently approved in the third the final reading in the Lower House (House of Representatives).

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If the counterpart bill in the Upper House (Senate) is approved before June 7, it becomes a law once President Rodrigo Duterte has signed it.
“The House has already approved this new PWD bill and it’s now up to the Senate to do the same. I’m not losing hope that we can still pass this into law,” Treñas recently said.
Republic Act 7277, or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, defined PWDs as "those suffering from restriction of different abilities, as a result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment, to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being."
All government agencies, offices or government corporations are mandated to fill at least two percent of all positions for qualified PWDs, under the measure.
Under Treñas bill, private corporations with more than 1,000 employees will be required to allot at least two percent of all positions for PWDS and one percent for those with less than 1,000 employees.

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Private firms that employ PWDs who meet the required skills or qualifications as apprentices or learners in return “shall be entitled to an additional deduction, from their gross income, equivalent to 25 percent of the total amount paid as salaries and wages to PWDs.”
On the other hand, “private entities that employ PWDs as regular employees shall be entitled to an additional deduction from their gross income, equivalent to 50 percent of the total amount paid as salaries and wages for the PWDs.”
Treñas’ measure also mandates the provision of free assistive technology services including designing, customizing, maintaining, repairing or replacing assistive technology devices to enhance the functional capacity of PWDs.
Also provided on the proposed law as additional privileges for PWDs are as follows:
Monthly stipend amounting to P500 for marginalized PWDs to augment their daily subsistence, medical and other needs.

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Exemption from passport processing fees, as well as travel taxes, terminal fees, other fees and charges levied on airports, ports, or other terminals by the government, any of its agencies or instrumentalities, or by government-owned or controlled corporations.
There is also the lifetime validity of PWD identification cards.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is also mandated to monitor compliance on the provisions of the proposed law and ensure the privileges provided are not abused by its beneficiaries.
Based on the 2010 Census, there are 1,443,000 PWDs comprising 1.57% of the total population, in the country. In the 2013 elections, there were around 365,000 registered PWD voters.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Drilon delivers KO blow on Joe III

"It's always hard to deal with injuries mentally, but I like to think about it as a new beginning. I can't change what happened, so the focus needs to go toward healing and coming back stronger than before."
--Carli Lloyd

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- MANY Ilonggo wisecracks were saying that the eleventh hour endorsement by Senator Frank Drilon of Rep. Geronimo "Jerry" Trenas was what broke the back of the camel for Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III's dramatic demise in the recent May 13 elections.
Drilon's surprise entry crippled Mayor Joe III, who had no giant political padrino of his own to show off and match Drilon's invincibility.
Former mayor Mansueto "Mansing" Malabor, whose son, reelectionist councilor Mandrie ran under Mayor Joe III's ticket, was too feeble to go all-out to campaign for the Espinosa clan's last great hope.
The major players in the past local elections also were no longer around to add spice to the classic duel: Roding Ganzon, Raul Gonzalez, Sr.
To his last blood, orphaned Mayor Joe III had to rely on his own diminishing political stock and personal charisma in a desperate bid to avert a catastrophic ending to no avail.

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HEALING politics is the antithesis of destructive politics.
While destructive politics seeks to oppose, confuse, divide, destroy, conquer and rule, healing politics seeks to forgive and forget, unite for a common cause, educate, promote, mobilize, restructure, create, inspire, build, and cooperate.
Destructive politics specializes in a plethora of dirty tricks, sinister and below-the-belt onslaught, mudslinging without any regard to subtlety and decorum.
Healing politics, on the other hand, expedites the shutting down of "black holes" and animosity whipped up by a murky and intense political rivalry to pave the way for a new beginning and for both parties to move on to the next level.
We have seen destructive politics in its ugliest face and deadliest form, and the mayhem it has caused on certain politicians and their families in the most recent elections in the Philippines.


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It is the kind of politics waged by voodoo and traditional politicians; sometimes they are those who are already in power but want to cling to power like leeches and will resort to all kinds of dirty tricks to stymie and put away their rivals.
Some of them are those who want to ascend to power with a crystal-clear intent of building a political dynasty and, once already there, shore up and expand the dynasty so that they will never be toppled from the totem pole while transforming the public office as their private fiefdom.
Political power or the search for political power stimulates chaos.
From the chaos rises a dynasty that will perpetuate the divisiveness and bedlam and so on and so forth..
What we would like to happen and see is the dawn of healing politics so that the political units (city, province, congressional districts) ruined by so much political antagonism and hatred can scale up to a higher dimension and wash away the debris of destructive and toxic politics.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)