Defensor, et al should stay away from speakership row

“When actors are vying for the same kinds of roles, there's bound to be a little rivalry. Deep friendships cannot be forged when you are competing with each other.”

—Juhi Chawla

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IF asked to take sides, Ilonggo congresswomen and congressmen should shun partisanship in the House of Representatives and reject both the feuding Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, whose bickering in the last three weeks now has delayed the passage of the 2021 national budget and sullied the reputation of the Philippine legislature.  

While people around the world battle the COVID-19 pandemic, a bizarre news from the Philippines wormed its way into major news websites in the United States and other parts of the globe about two good-looking kids fighting over a piece of biscuit while an exasperated dad couldn’t decide between the spoiled brats. 

As of the moment, only AAMBIS-OWA Partylist Rep. Sharon Garin of Guimbal, Iloilo has been sideswiped in the Cayetano-Velasco tiff, losing her chairmanship in the committee on economic affairs for hugging the youthful would-be speaker, the hottest political heartthrob to emerge from the Southwestern Tagalog Region.

Because he is desperate to cling to power in whatever means and no matter who gets bamboozled, Cayetano, abetted by his “weather friends” in congress, will not hesitate to apply a Machiavellian “disciplinary action” to chop off the heads of disloyal sycophants and those who will stand his way to keep the speakership. 

 

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No one in congress should fear eccentric Cayetano or whoever political demigods and kingmakers that will tolerate his “reign of terror.”

No one should bow before Louis XIV-in-the-making Velasco.

Most of the solons from Western Visayas are in the age bracket of both Cayetano and Velasco; and they, too, can be in the best position to become speaker in the future, especially the brilliant Iloilo third district Rep. Lorenz R. Defensor (PDP-Laban), Antique Rep. Loren Legarda (PDP-Laban), and Negros Occidental third district Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez.

If they get their hands off the current speakership rumble, they will not end up beholden to whoever will emerge as winner in the game of musical chairs on October 14; they are also free to form their own silent coalition sans the influence and intervention of any political godfather.

If Velasco will be crowned as the next speaker (which he will most likely get based on the recent body language of Malacanang), erstwhile independent solons identified with either Cayetano and Velasco will be in the beck and call of the new speaker when the new emperor divides the spoils of war.

In every battle when the smoke is cleared, there’s always a retribution and “loyalty rewards”.  

“Veni, vidi, vici.” (I came, I saw, I conquered.)  

If they remain independent and show displeasure to the fact that the speakership was being disputed in a repugnant manner (term-sharing was basically a “Solomonic decision” made in the presence of President Duterte before Cayetano clinched the speakership), they will earn the respect of the contending parties and the admiration of their constituents. 

 

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I AM saddened that one of my three most favorite hotels in New York City has succumbed to the struggling economy.

I’m referring to the fantabulous Roosevelt Hotel at 45 East 45th Street which is reportedly shuttering after nearly a century in operation.

Owned by Pakistan International Airlines and managed by United Hotels Company, the 1,015-key hotel is located near the heart of the midtown Manhattan, a walking distance from the Philippine Consulate on Fifth Avenue. 

My other favorite hotels (which are not closing) are Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel in times Square and Hotel Pennsylvania in front of the Madison Square Garden also in the midtown. 

I always recommended these hotels to visiting friends from other states.

“Due to the current economic impacts, after almost 100 years of welcoming guests to The Grand Dame of New York, The Roosevelt Hotel, is regretfully closing its doors permanently,” the hotel said in a statement on its website, according to the report. Its final day of operation will be Oct. 31.

The 18-story building, which was constructed in 1924, also has 22,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to a loan prospectus from 2014. 

It most recently underwent an $8.2 million renovation in 2011.

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

 

 

 

 

Why Iloilo solons are ‘terrified’ of anti-terror bill

“Many times in life, we say we want change but are then terrified when the opportunity for it arrives.”
—Marianne Williamson

By Alex P. Vidal

LET’S not get mad at Ilonggo solons who co-authored and supported the controversial anti-terror bill or Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 passed in the Lower House by a vote of 173-31, with 29 abstentions June 3.
Some of these Ilonggo representatives may have supported the bill along party lines, especially that no less than President Rodrigo Roa Duterte had certified the bill as urgent.
We have solons who are principled and those with no backbone. 
We have solons who can stand their ground without blinking and vote according to their conscience, while there are second-rate representatives who can’t defy the wishes of the emperor.  
When they inked their signatures in the bill, these sniveling solons were virtually in the precarious situation of “damn if they did and damn if they didn’t.”
Our solons were aware they were in President Duterte’s radar and probably didn’t want to displease the country’s most powerful man.
In other words, they voted for the bill aware of the Sword of Damocles above them. 
Never mind what their constituents back home will say.

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With no independence as legislators and willing to do the bidding for the executive branch, the solons didn’t wish to earn the old man’s ire.
At the same time, at the back of their minds, they were worried their freedom-loving constituents, conscious of possible attempt to trammel their basic rights when the bill becomes a law, might scoff at their “cowardice” and virtual subservience to the President.   
Yet, they didn’t blink and went on to force the controversial bill into the people’s throats.
We suspect many—if not all—of them never consulted their constituents before they voted yes. If they did, they would be ribbed with overwhelming rebuke and opposition.
Let us put it this way: the solons who co-authored, defended, pushed, and voted for the controversial bill chose President Duterte over the true will of their constituents.
When they run for reelection or seek a higher office in the next elections, they should go to the President and woo him for his support.
They should remind him of what they did on June 3, 2020 when they voted yes to the anti-terror bill that made the President happy.

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The approved version was never amended as proposed earlier and only replicated  the Upper Chamber’s Senate Bill No. 1083 passed in February.
But it amended and repealed the Human Security Act, and sought to impose tougher penalties, including life imprisonment, on anyone who will participate in, conspire with, or incite others in the planning or facilitation of a terrorist attack.
No less than Vice President Leni Robredo has noted that several provisions in the bill focused on expanding the definition of a terrorist and on lessening the checks and balances against wrongful arrest, provisions that “cause a lot of fear.”
The Vice President thundered: “Especially in the hands of people who have no qualms about using disinformation, inventing evidence, or finding the smallest of pretexts to silence its critics—this power is very dangerous.”
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)