When will Treñas and Joe III forgive each other?

“When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.” —Alan Paton

By Alex P. Vidal

THE two successive election defeats incurred by former Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III in 2019 and 2022 were a bitter pill to swallow for a highly regarded public servant with a sterling track record.

If he can’t bounce back soon or in the next election, Espinosa, an honest and intelligent man, will be a big loss for Iloilo City politics.

The last thing he needs to put a final nail on his political coffin is a third straight setback in local positions.

Espinosa’s latest defeat to reelectionist Iloilo City lone district Rep. Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda could have been avoided if he and his brother-in-law, Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas, weren’t anymore at loggerheads.

As long as Treñas is still active in politics and they remain at odds, Espinosa, who has no more power and with a limited clout now, is doomed.

The back-to-back setbacks could put an exclamation point on his political career—unless he and Treñas will finally kiss and make up, let bygones be bygones and agree to rebuild their splintered family and political forces before they turn 80.

But after two contentious elections, the relationship between Espinosa and Treñas appeared to have further sunk deeper in the ocean instead of making some headway. 

It is said that Philippine elections sometimes could permanently cripple relationships. 

In the case of Espinosa and Treñas, time didn’t heal their wounds?

When will they forgive each other?

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It’s now crystal clear that since their feud erupted in the 2019 election, Treñas still hasn’t forgiven Espinosa, or vice versa, because they ran under two rival political parties in the May 9, 2022 election and cavorted with different candidates for city mayor and House of Representatives instead of supporting each other.

After soundly beating Espinosa for mayor in May 2019, Treñas, who trounced radioman Salvador “Jun” Capulot for mayor in May 2022, backed Baronda’s releection bid for congressman against Espinosa, who supported Capulot.

But even if the two brothers-in-law decided to bury their hatchet for the sake of family unity before the May 9, 2022 election, it wouldn’t follow that Treñas will discard second-termer Baronda for Espinosa.

Treñas’ political commitment with Baronda doesn’t end with the  reinstatement of his relationship with Espinosa. 

Baronda’s position shouldn’t be part of any package deal by any wheeler-dealer.  

Both gentlemen can always break bread together again anytime and rekindle their sweet moments without sacrificing Baronda, or interrupting the lady’s joyride in congress.

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The newly elected neophyte politicians don’t need to be reminded like kindergarten pupils on what to do especially if they are in the legislature—local and national.

Whatever they do or plan to do now that they have been elected, is their call. 

We won’t babysit or pamper those who are incompetent and inept.

Some of them were elected because of their notoriety and popularity, but it’s part of the game and there is nothing we can do about it now; we can’t deny this fact and reality.

The obligation of the voters is to elect their chosen candidates in a free election and watch while they serve in their capacity as public servants. It’s up to the elected officials whether they will bungle or shine.

Good luck.

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

Be truthful to the good man, Joe III

“Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.”

—Dennis Prager

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IF you meet former Iloilo City mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III anywhere in Iloilo City nowadays, give him a hug and shake his hands. He is a good man.

If you love him, tell him the truth in his face. Don’t give him false hopes.

If you care for him, be sincere when striking a conversation with him over a cup of coffee at La Paz Public Market’s Madge Café, where he is a regular habitue.

Don’t pretend you care for the former city mayor, who had served as city councilor and vice mayor under four city mayors: Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon, Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor, Jed Patrick Mabilog, and Geronimo “Jerry” Trenas, when you don’t.

Of course, only those who don’t like him will avoid him like rinderpest. But he is a good man, and we must presume he is likable even if he isn’t an incumbent elected official.

If we see imminent danger for someone and we do nothing, we become accessories to his pain and vicissitude.

If we anticipate his downfall and nonetheless continue to dupe and take him for a ride, we become collaborators and there’s blood in our hands. 

 

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If you don’t have the moral courage and aren’t prepared yet to tell him the truth for fear of “hurting” him, at least don’t hoodwink Atty. Joe III. 

Truth that hurts but spoken with all candor and sincere intention is better than sugar-coated lies meant to mesmerize and tantalize.

Since he is a candidate for the city’s lone congressional district and will challenge incumbent Rep. Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda in the May 9, 2022 local election, now is the right time to be truthful to the good man, who is always “comfortably ahead in the surveys.”

As a reasonable and smart person, Atty. Joe III knows how to listen to reasonable and sensible pieces of advice and constructive criticism. 

If they mislead him and allow him to climb up into the banana tree and, once he is up there, chop down the tree, they’re not only dishonest but cruel and inhuman.

 

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Migs Zubiri, Sherwin Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva, Gregorio Honasan,  Loren Legarda are among the senatorial candidates in the May 9, 2022 election who should be dumped by the voters.

In their TV commercials, they think the Filipino people are fools and ignorants who owe them debts of gratitude.

“Salamat Migs…,” screams one political infomercial (and to think it isn’t yet officially a campaign season). Salamat or thank you for what?

Migs and other jackasses aspiring for reelection should be the ones to be thankful to the people for electing them into office despite their incompetence and lack of sincerity to lift Juan dela Cruz from the nadir and sinkhole.

Migs and his fellow chumps should be ashamed to assume that Juan dela Cruz was indebted to them for whatever pubic service they have done. 

In the first place, they were paid by taxpayers’ money and pampered by a corrupt bureaucracy like privileged kings and queens and weren’t slaves.

“Nang dahil kay Joel…” and “Nang dahil kay Loren…” trumpet another political infomercials.

Nang dahil or because of Joel and Loren for what?

It should be “nang dahil” or because of the votes of the people why they were their in the congress’ upper and lower chambers.

The reason why the Philippines continues to slide in the economic chart and doesn’t rise above poverty level is because of useless politicians like Migs, Loren, Joel, Sherwin, Greg, among others, who have no qualms heaping praises to themselves first to ensure their election win, but neglecting the true state of the nation and ignoring the real roots of the Filipino people’s age-old burdens and deprivation.

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

 

 

City hall's political vendetta

"In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia."
--George Orwell

By Alex P. Vidal

NO matter how the Iloilo City Legal Office package, justify, and camouflage the "electioneering" case recently filed against three City Hall officials Danny Tan, Vincent de la Cruz, and Eireen Manikan, Ilonggos will still sneer at it as nothing but a political vendetta.
Ilonggos weren't born yesterday to believe hook, line, and sinker that casual employees Dennis Biñas, Julia Bitonga, Jena Jose, and Donephine Domingo weren't coaxed, coached, and guided by some powerful subalterns of Mayor Geronimo "Jerry" Treñas to sue the three officials suspected of siding with former mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III in the May elections.
Only fools will agree that the casual workers filed the case on their own volition and resources, and without any help or influence from the big bosses in the mayor's office.

-o0o-
Ilonggos will, of course, suspect that the four casual workers may have been dispatched by City Administrator Melchor Tan and briefed by City Legal Officer Edgardo Gil to formalize the cases for violation of the Election Code/Fair Election Act, Civil Service Law, and Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees) against Tan, de la Cruz, and Manikan.
Administrator Tan is in charge of the hiring and appointment of casual employees, while Gil has been very vocal and sharply familiar with the case as if the four complainants are under his direct supervision.
The casual workers have singled out the three officials to be the ones who called them for a meeting at City Hall sometime in February, or three months before the elections, allegedly to compel them to support Espinosa III.
They considered the statement as a threat “since our employment is at the stake if we will not follow his instruction.”
They added in a statement: "We were likewise directed to recruit at least 10 persons to attend ‘Pag-ulikid’."
Many believed that Espinosa anchored his bid to keep his office through “Pag-ulikid sang Syudad”, a community outreach program that brought city government frontline services to the barangays.

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Since it appears to be crystal clear that City Hall may be behind the legal juggernaut against the three suspected Espinosa III backers now bearing the brunt of an apparent "witch hunt" under the Treñas administration, some Ilonggos may view this internal pandemonium to be an "obvious political persecution."
Granting that Tan, de la Cruz, and Manikan really rooted for Espinosa III in the recent polls, their "offense" should be understandable and even pardonable since, they too, were part of a system that demands adherence to the status quo.
It's not about personality, but more as jurisdiction and stability.
The reality is because most department heads or officials holding permanent positions in any government office normally develop a "good working relationship" (euphemism for affection or feeling of endearment) with whoever is the incumbent (appointed or elected) mayor, governor, director, secretary, or general manager, partisanship in incoming competition or election is hard to reject and avoid.
The relationship should be mutual and necessary; they, as top officials and administrators tasked with major obligations and responsibilities, must and need to treat each other as members of one family.
The relationship they develop shouldn't be considered as a political crime because it metamorphosed in the name public service, not because they hate someone who has just taken over the helm.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

City hall’s wheel of fortune

“There's still is a status-quo group at City Hall who likes things done the old way, behind closed doors.”
--Laura Miller

By Alex P. Vidal

THE wheels of political fortune will always favor those who are allied with the winners.
Did we say nobody loves a loser?
In a sudden twist of fate, one of the executive assistants asked by Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa, through his right hand, Rommel “Jojo” Castro, to resign in March 2018, will take back his portfolio as city administrator when Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas assumes as the new city mayor on July 1, 2019.
Melchor Tan, who served as city administrator when Treñas was mayor in 2001 until 2010, will replace lawyer Hernando Galvez, city administrator since the term of Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.
Tan and five other Treñas acolytes-- Abel Alejano, Boyet Rico, Irene Ong, Mitch Antiqueña and Roy Firmeza--quit during the Espinosa administration after Castro asked them to resign “if they couldn’t prioritize their City Hall tasks over their other concerns outside City Hall.”
They quit, disappeared from public scene for a while, planned their resurrection, and resurfaced when the Bastille has been recaptured.

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The city administrator is the most powerful person in the city mayor’s office.
He is in charge of all the appointing papers of casual employees and reviews the executive orders, among his other major functions.
Will it be Tan’s turn to ask Castro and other city hall big guns who feverishly campaigned openly for Mayor Joe III in the recent elections to resign?
Castro, city engineer Bobby Divinagracia, Vincent Dela Cruz were among those who are reportedly “heading for the chopping block” when the Treñas administration takes over next month.
If they are protected by the civil service law, the least that Administrator Tan can do is to reassign them, a euphemism for demotion.
It would be a violation of their rights if they’re dismissed mainly because they were identified with the Team Joe III in the recent polls.

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Castro, et al may have already known their fate and are not expecting a walk in the rose garden starting next month even if they can still retain their jobs.
For being loyal to his boss and for “only doing his job,” Castro became the incoming administration’s most favorite punching bag and has been placed in the center of storm in city hall’s forthcoming “house cleansing.”
Many casual workers who lost their jobs during Mayor Joe III’s brief reign are also sharpening their knives against Castro.
But Castro, in fairness to the man, was only doing what his boss Mayor Joe III was asking him to do.
Castro, a sports buff, shouldn’t be singled out during the Joe III administration’s “Reign of Terror” that resulted in the casuals’ “mass slaughter” as his role was only to implement or facilitate the orders from the big boss.
For his part, Mayor Joe III shouldn’t abandon his wounded soldiers.
Although it is not anymore his responsibility to feed and clothe the adults after they have been vanquished, Mayor Joe III, at least, still have the moral obligation to make sure Castro, et al won’t be stripped of their dignities and livelihood.
(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.


-o0o-


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)

Segovia's resignation is right

"I think my resignation was the only way to avoid bloodshed."
--Eduard Shevardnadze

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- After her much-publicized quarrel with Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas recently, Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc. (IDFI) vice president Marissa Segovia made the right decision to tender her "irrevocable" resignation.
They may say she was only carried by her emotions and made the decision to quit "on the spur of the moment" being a woman.
But it's difficult to fix a glass that has been cracked especially if the tiff was tainted with a political undertone.
Treñas reportedly lashed at the businesswoman during a meeting of the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation on Feb. 14, blaming her for not inviting him to the Dinagyang Festival last month.
Treñas and Segovia are not strangers to each other.
They were good friends.
And also their respective families.
They worked together not only to achieve IDFI goals and commitment to public when Treñas was city mayor from 2001 to 2010, but also to help buttress the good standing of the Iloilo Business Club (IBC) in the Ilonggo community where Segovia was also an executive.

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Segovia decided to quit from the IDFI but did not issue any statement to the media ostensibly after "being humiliated" by the congressman's alleged unexpected verbal assault.
If not for politics, there would have been no "heated" confrontation that hurt Segovia and forced her to call it a day.
If not for politics, no one would have raised a whimper that he was left out in the proper protocol for an important event.
Politics smeared their friendship.
Treñas is running again for city mayor versus Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III, Segovia's other friend, in the May 2019 elections.
If Treñas will win, Segovia will be in a very uncomfortable situation running the affairs of the foundation with her "tormentor" at the helm.
And if Treñas will use his power and influence to scrutinize or audit IDFI's financial records, she will have to belabor painstakingly even if they weren't hiding something.
The mental and emotional stress may not be necessary and good for Segovia, who is highly respected in the business community.

-o0o-

Meanwhile, no one has owned up to the snafu especially as to why Treñas was not officially invited.
What ensued next was finger-pointing and offensive justifications from IDFI president Ramon Cua Locsin, who made all the explanation--not particularly in defense of Segovia--but to inform the public they were running the foundation well and shouldn't be held accountable for sidestepping some VIPs during the occasion, stressing that the responsibility had already been delegated to the city mayor.
Locsin made a lengthy elucidation like he himself was involved in the fracas.
In a statement distributed to media, Locsin stressed: “We believe that we have discharged our duties fairly and judiciously for the successful conduct of the Dinagyang Festival, and we hope that this will end the controversy raised by those whose self-interest could trivialize the achievements of the Iloilo Dinagyang Festival and IDFI.”
He added: “IDFI has always acted with good faith in dealing with all partners of the festival. This is a major factor for the high trust rating of the public in IDFI. This is also the basis of Ms. Segovia’s statement during one of her interviews that Cong. Treñas was invited in the festivities. The City Mayor was also consistent in his interviews that everyone was welcome.”

Mayor Joe III should prove Alim wrong

“God as my witness, may He strike me down if this allegation is true.”
--Paul Crouc

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- We suspect that Bacolod City Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia wasn’t happy that the honor of holding Manny Pacquiao’s WBA 147-lb belt when the senator defended his crown against Adrien Broner in Las Vegas on January 19, 2019 went to senatorial candidate Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.
The role of holding Pacquiao’s championship belt during the introduction inside the ring has been Leonardia’s exclusive franchise since Pacquiao became a WBO kingpin 10 years ago.
In fact, the chief reason why Leonardia flew to Las Vegas despite his busy schedule in Bacolod City, was “to fulfill that obligation.”
There were many attempts in the past from eager-beaver Pacquiao friends and subalterns to dislodge Leonardia from that lofty honor but they all failed.
I am a living witness to some of these foiled heists.

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In fact, I know personally some of the purported VIPs who tried but failed to trick Leonardia.
In one of Pacquiao’s fights at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino many years back, Leonardia had to grip the belt tightly like Conan the Barbarian and defend it like his honor was at stake when a physician friend attempted to grab it from his hands.
If coolers heads did not interfere, the Ilonggo mayor was prepared to square off with the intruder in what could have been the undercard’s preliminary bout right there in the dressing room.
If these charlatans weren’t jealous with Leonardia, they wanted to become instant celebrity by being seen instantly by millions of boxing fans from all over the world monitoring the event “live” on a pay-per-view.
This time, one of them succeeded.
Bato, of course, had a sinister intention.
As a senatorial candidate, the retired police director general knew his presence would generate a lot of attention from the voters.

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The first-ever serious allegation of a possible graft and corruption “committed” in the infant administration of Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III has been fired by Councilor Joshua Alim.
The eye of the storm is the controversial P45-million newly-built grandstand in the Muelle Loney, City Proper, which Espinosa III had temporarily named as the Iloilo Dinagyang Grandstand.
Alim, a candidate in Iloilo City’s lone congressional district in the May 2019 elections, said he wasn’t convinced that the recently-inaugurated main venue of this year’s Dinagyang Festival was worth that amount.
The opposition councilor wasn’t impressed by the grandstand’s design even as he declared he would call for a committee investigation in the Sangguniang Panlungsod to shed light on the issue.
The grandstand, originally known as the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand when it was still standing in front of the Customs house in corner Mapa-J.M. Basa Streets, City Proper, was built under the Espinosa III’s administration.

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Once Alim starts to seriously pursue the investigation, it will give Mayor Joe III, a rich man who does not need to steal and has no bad record in public service, a terrible inconvenience as he, too, is running for city mayor against Rep. Jerry Trenas in the May 2019 elections.
Alim’s recent saber-rattling, of course, was a music to Trenas’ ears.
Although Alim and Trenas do not belong in one political bandwagon, the councilor’s offensive move against Mayor Joe III is expected to be welcomed by Trenas’ group as a shibboleth of conquest.
Ilonggos who don’t believe that Mayor Joe III is a thief, meanwhile, will now start to suspect that he tolerated graft and corruption when he employed grafters in his administration.
Of course we are not saying that Alim is right.
In fairness to the mayor, everything is a mere suspicion and allegation; no formal complaint has been lodged yet against any Espinosa III minion in relation to the construction of the controversial grandstand.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, Mayor Joe III can’t just shrug off Alim’s fusillade as a mere powder puff.
He must prove that the councilor is wrong by facing the issue squarely and grabbing the bull by the horns.

Mayor Joe III changes his mind

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
--James Humes

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Because most of them were preoccupied and concerned more with their reelection and political ambitions in the May 2019 elections, some Iloilo City aldermen opted to play deaf and blind when the raging furor over the unpopular renaming by Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III of the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand to “Iloilo Dinagyang Grandstand” hogged headlines since last week.
When they could not perform their role as members of the local legislature to scrutinize and help correct certain misdemeanors in the executive branch, we, in the mass media, filled the vacuum of check and balance.
We were the ones who consistently and passionately pressed the wake up call that the act of renaming the historic grandstand wasn’t only unpopular but downright unpalatable if not smeared with moral and legal issues.
For being reluctant to chide the mayor--or at least tell him he was wrong--the city aldermen probably did not want to look like villains in the mayor’s eyes especially that there is a strong indication Joe III will remain as city mayor for the next four years.
Their implied recalcitrance on the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand brouhaha gave Ilonggos the uncanny impression that as long as they are in power, Mayor Joe III will get what he wants and they won’t stand his way to disappoint him.

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We are glad though that Mayor Joe III responded to the media criticism positively.
He immediately doused cold water to the conflagration by announcing that the name “Dinagyang Grandstand” wasn’t for keeps, acknowledging that the decision to rename any public structure needs the imprimatur of the local legislative body as a co-equal branch in government.
Contrary to what his political enemies have been trying to portray him, Mayor Joe III wasn’t insensitive afterall.
After all is said and done, we are confident Mayor Joe III will no longer pursue that loathed edict on the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand.
Councilor Joshua Alim has hinted that he would push for the retention of the word “freedom” even as the Iloilo City Council has yet to formally tackle the issue and help assuage the frazzled emotions of members of the so-called Timawa party or the Ganzon loyalists (Ganzonistas), who vowed to campaign against Mayor Joe III if he did not change his mind.
The Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, built in the 1950s to commemorate Republic Act 1209 or the “Iloilo City Freedom Law” authored and sponsored by the late former senator and mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon, was the Ganzon loyalists’ only living legacy and memory of their beloved hero, Roding Ganzon.

-o0o-
Like in the cases of other policemen linked in illegal drugs, President Duterte offered no solid evidence when he shamed and fired last Saturday Bacolod City police chief, Senior Supt. Francisco Ebreo, and four others: Supt. Nasruddin Tayuan, Supt. Richie Makilan Yatar, Senior Insp. Victor Paulino and Senior Supt. Allan Rubi Macapagal.
Even after meeting the embattled police officials in Malacanang last Tuesday, the President reiterated his displeasure and disgust and lambasted them anew for being allegedly protectors of illegal drugs or personalities engaged in illegal drugs directly and indirectly.
Some of them could be innocent -- unless their accusers can produce solid evidence and file formal charges against them in court.
No less than Chief Supt. John Bulalaco, Regional Police Office 6 (RPO-6) director, has confirmed Ebreo was not on the watch list of those linked in illegal drugs.
We can’t question the President’s intelligence network; he must have the valid reason when he went ballistic against the Bacolod cops.
We learned, however, that the other reason why cops earned Mr. Duterte’s ire after some incumbent elected officials in Bacolod City had alleged that the cops escorted Councilor Ricardo “Cano” Tan and his wife who were ambushed by unknown assailants in December 13, 2018 in Talisay City.
The Tan couple just came from their property in Talisay City, the Campuestohan Highland Resort, when they were waylaid on their way to Bacolod City.
They survived.
Tan has been named by Duterte as alleged drug trafficker.
Tan, a sportsman, is also at odds with Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia politically.
Leonardia is an ally of Mr. Duterte.

Joshua Alim, a modern day Julius Caesar

“Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.”
--Julius Caesar

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- “I have crossed the Rubicon…it’s congressman for 2019. Ilonggos, I will fight for you.”
Thus was the Caesarean declaration made by Councilor Joshua Alim in his Facebook account on October 8, 2018.
By using Rubicon, a shallow river in northeastern Italy south of Ravenna, as the focal point of his battle cry, Alim has imitated Julius Caesar’s crossing of the stream in 49 B.C. which was tantamount to a declaration of war against Rome as represented by Pompey and the Senate.
The historic importance of this event gave rise to the phrase "crossing the Rubicon" for a step which definitely commits a person to a given course of action.
Now that Alim, a lawyer and law instructor, has “crossed” the river, he must decisively defeat Pompey to complete the heroic saga.
Alim will tangle against his former colleagues in the city council, Dr. Perla Zulueta and Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda, in the shootout for Iloilo City’s lone congressional district in May 2019.
Two “Pompeys” backed by two powerhouse establishments: the Treñas Cavalry and the Joe III Squadron.
Alim’s incursion is buttressed by the combined Gonzalez and Ynion Armada.

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The real Caesar and real Pompey fought to the bitter end at Pharsalus on August 9, 48 B.C.
Pompey had 48,000 infantry, 7,000 horses; Caesar had 22,000 and 1,000.
“Some few of the noblest Romans,” says Plutarch, “standing as spectators outside the battle…could not but reflect to what a pass private ambition had brought the Empire…The whole flower and strength of the same city, meeting here in collision with itself, offered plain proof how blind and mad a thing human nature is when passion is aroused.”
In Caesar and Christ: The Story of Civilization, Will Durant narrated: “Near relatives, even brothers, fought in the opposite armies. Caesar bade his men spare all Romans who should surrender; as to the young aristocrat Marcus Brutus, he said, they were to capture him without injuring him, or, if this proved impossible, they were to let him escape.”
The Pompeians were overwhelmed by superior leadership, training, and morale: 15,000 of them were killed or wounded, 20,000 surrendered, the remainder fled.
Pompey tore the insignia of command from his clothing and took flight like the rest.
Cesar tells us that he lost but 200 men--which cast doubt upon all his books.

-o0o-

Caesar’s army was amused to see the tents of the defeated so elegantly adorned, and their tables laden with the feast that was to celebrate their victory.
Caesar ate Pompey’s supper in Pompey’s tent.
Pompey rode all night to Larissa, thence to the sea, and took ship to Alexandria.
At Mytilene, where his wife joined him, the citizens wished him to stay; he refused courteously, and advised them to submit to the conqueror without fear, for, he said, “Caesar was a man of great goodness and clemency.”
Brutus also escaped to Larissa, but there he dallied and wrote to Caesar.
The victor expressed joy on hearing that he was safe, readily forgave him, and at his request forgave Cassius.

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To the nations of the East, which--controlled by the upper classes--had supported Pompey, he was likewise lenient.
He distributed Pompey’s hoards of grain among the starving population of Greece, and to the Athenians asking pardon he replied with a smile of reproof: “How often will the glory of your ancestors save you from self-destruction?”
When Pompey hoped to resume the battle versus Caesar (with the news army and resources of Egypt, and the forces that Cato, Labienus, and Metellus Scipio were organizing at Utica), he was murdered while his wife looked on in helpless terror from the ship in which they had come, by servants of Pothinus, eunich vizer of Ptolemy XII, as he reached Alexanderia, in expectation of reward from Caesar.
When Caesar arrived, Pothinus’ men presented him with Pompey’s severed head.
Caesar turned away and wept.
By riding on the epic of the “crossing in the Rubicon” which bears a striking semblance of his struggle in Iloilo City politics, will Atty. Joshua Alim weep like Julius Caesar and loudly declare “Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered)” after the May 2019 elections?

The ‘Iron Lady’ Zulueta I know

“Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.”
--Imelda Marcos

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- The reported “surprise” entry of Dr. Perla S. Zulueta in Iloilo City’s congressional race must have saddened Councilor Joshua Alim and former councilor Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda.
Alim and Baronda are aware they will be facing a serious contender with an almost impeccable record and a long experience in public service.
If there are still active Iloilo beat reporters today who have covered Zulueta starting when she won a seat in the Iloilo provincial board in 1988, I am one of them.
In the period between 1989 until 1992, Zulueta was a runaway newsmaker (from an IBC-TV 12 newscaster before she entered politics) as the No. 1 tormentor of then Iloilo Governor Simplicio “Sim” Griño.
Now Councilor Armand Parcon was Bombo Radyo Iloilo’s capitol beat reporter but fellow Bombo Radyo reporter and then law student Alim (he passed the bar in 1991) and another former Bombo Radyo star reporter Francis Hinayhinay would join us from time to time when we interviewed then Board Member Zulueta, who first earned the moniker “The Iron Lady” because of her series of jaw-dropping expose and Philippic speeches in the provincial board.

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A tense moment occurred sometime in 1992 before Zulueta ran and lost to former Assemblyman and Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Arthur “Art” Defensor Sr. for governor in the May 1992 elections.
We, in the Iloilo Capitol Press Corps, had been tipped off that an “indignant” son of Governor Griño was in the capitol premises “planning to disrupt” the provincial board’s regular session to prevent Zulueta from making another scathing privilege speech that would embarrass the governor.
Everyone waited anxiously and our attention was divided--we leered from time to time inside and outside the session hall like we were watching a ping pong match.
The son indeed appeared but a phalanx of capitol henchmen, alerted by the potential chaos, boxed him out peacefully thus preventing a melee as the late virtuoso and watchful former Oton mayor Lazaro “Nene” Zulueta silently stood nearby like Kevin Costner in the Bodyguard film.
Board Member Zulueta managed to sledgehammer anew the Griño administration in her sharp speech unmolested.

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Griño, a religious and good man, lost to Defensor. Zulueta, who wound up second, garnered more votes than the defrocked governor. Fifth district independent bet, the late Azur Salcedo finished last.
When Zulueta became Iloilo city councilor in 1995, she strapped around her waist the opposition holster anew and became the No. 1 source of Mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor’s headache.
In every cookie jar that minions of Malabor had dipped their fingers into, there the firebrand Councilor Zulueta was running the gauntlet and firing the cylinders.
In every anomaly that she had stumbled upon, Zulueta saw to it that there were Dickens to pay for the thieves and the taxpayers would heave a sigh of relief.
In the 1998 elections, Zulueta sided with then fellow city councilor and now Iloilo City Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas in a foiled attempt to defeat the reelectionist Malabor, the “man of the masa” who rolled past all his moneyed rivals to complete the three terms as city mayor.
Zulueta became Treñas’ ally when the latter reigned as city mayor from 2001 to 2010.

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It was during those years that Zulueta’s political relationship with fellow city councilor and eventually vice mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III was buttressed (although they had been closely working together in the local legislature in the opposition during the Malabor administration). When Joe III became city mayor in October 2017 after Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s “forced departure”, he retained the “Iron Lady” (a Mabilog appointee) as one of his advisers.
Zulueta has reportedly accepted Mayor Joe III’s invitation for her to run for congress in May 2019 after former councilor Nielex “Lex” Tupas said “no mas” to politics.
Her entry will place her in a collision course versus Baronda, who is being backed by Treñas; and Alim, who is reportedly being supported by the group of Dr. Pacita Gonzalez.

   

Treñas places Baronda on firing line

“To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.”

-- Hubert H. Humphrey

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- By naming former Iloilo City councilor Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda as “first congresswoman-to-be” in an event in Brgy. Cubay, Jaro district on September 22, Iloilo City lone district Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas has initiated the first move to place the head of the lady politician on the firing line.
When Baronda’s jealous critics or potential rivals--or the supporters of her rivals--begin to throw darts at her, it’s because Treñas gave them the idea on how many tanks and ammunition are they now going to assemble and prepare this early against a known enemy.
By the time the official showdown begins, Baronda’s potential adversaries may have built an enormous armory and battalions to storm and piss her off; they may have studied the right recipe to wreck her during the campaign period.
Even before the start of the campaign sortie, Baronda’s enemies are expected to start tormenting her with issues that will push her in the brink of mental and emotional anguish, and force her to rethink whether it’s worth her salt to be in the political hot seat when she could have relaxed and enjoyed her private life as an ordinary civilian if she did not throw her hat on the political ring once again.
That’s the downside of having to disclose your forces earlier.

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On the other hand, Treñas’ hint of preference for Baronda will finally put to an end the guessing game and stop giving other congressional wanna-bes close to Treñas false hopes and false imaginations.
This will give former Iloilo City councilor Nielex “Lex” Tupas the leverage to assert his independence and boost his chances to be wooed and possibly endorsed by other parties.
Tupas did not announce his plans for the 2019 elections during his birthday in August as he had promised earlier, but this gave his rivals the blank wall and the jigsaw puzzle of what lies ahead in as far as his rumored candidacy for congressman is concerned.
This will also pave the way for Councilor Joshua Alim to finally consider forging an alliance officially with the groups of Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III and Dra. Pacita Trinidad-Gonzalez to complete the cast for the Armageddon.

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As a “graduating” council member, Alim has been a shoo-in for the congressional contest even before Baronda’s name had surfaced; even before Tupas had made many Ilonggos think it’s about time he was elected in congress instead of “wasting” his talent in the National Youth Commission (NYC) which he had served briefly before calling it a day when the Duterte administration took over.
By revealing earlier his preference for the congressional post he would soon vacate to run for city mayor in the May 2019 local elections, Treñas was also sending a curt message to his brother-in-law, Espinosa III, that “your time is up.”
Once Treñas will officially endorse Baronda, it will be tantamount to shutting the door with finality to the dream
Espinosa-Treñas tandem for congressman and city mayor in the May 2019 elections.
Baronda was, of course, elated with Treñas’ statement that he was “60 percent certain” of picking her to be his bet for congress.
Her sharpness and agility to surmount the major challenge in the May 2019 elections will be put to severe test in the next weeks and months once she will start to feel the heat of the dirty side of political mudslinging.
Good luck, congressional candidate-to-be, Jamjam Baronda.

Who has the ‘right’ to be the next mayor?

“Leadership is a choice, not a position.”
--Stephen Covey

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- The most senior member of the Iloilo City Council, Atty. Eduardo “Ed” Peñaredondo, should have all the right to run for city mayor in May 2019.
Peñaredondo is even more senior than the feuding Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III and lone district Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas, although they are both his long-time buddies in the City Council.
Some Ilonggos believe that if the relationship between Espinosa and Treñas will remain frosty before Christmas, it’s better to pick another guy and abscond the two leading bets.
The problem is Peñaredondo, a very credible and highly competent leader, has not shown any interest for the top city hall job.
And even if he is interested, nobody from among his peers in the City Council is apparently ready to take him seriously as a potential mayoral contender, at least not yet.

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We believe though that most of his peers would be willing to endorse him if they weren’t ashamed to both Espinosa and Treñas.
And if they will rally behind Peñaredondo in unison, both Espinosa and Treñas will understand and won’t take it personally against them.
They city mayor and the congressman are not stony and insensitive.
They are aware that because of their unnecessary and useless altercation, their buddies in the City Council are awfully confused, affected and hurting.
Members of the City Council, including Peñaredondo, are actually in a quandary ever since the relationship between Espinosa and Treñas deteriorated and eventually nosedived.
They are torn between two lovers.
They have no reason to eschew neither Espinosa nor Treñas who have been and are still part of their political lives.

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Both gentlemen are actually special to them as they used to belong in one political family.
Their predicament is similar to children watching their parents argue but they can’t take sides because both father and mother are dear to them.
As a result of the misunderstanding between the city’s two highest officials, the city councilors are adamant to say or do something in as far as political issues in the city are concerned for fear they will be misinterpreted by both camps.
Even the department heads and some village officials--punong barangay and their councilors--are in the same dilemma.
They both love Espinosa and Treñas (in the first place, they weren’t enemies but allies aside from being mag bilas from the start of their political careers) but they need to choose and elect only one city mayor.

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Some people have this naughty suspicion that because Iloilo first district Rep. Oscar “Richard” Garin Jr. has declared that the Garin clan “is still not committed” in the gubernatorial contest in May 2019, the unpredictable family is “cooking up something.”
They theorize that one of the Garins “might also be interested to run” or the family is only trying to make pakipot and will continue to keep its cards hidden in its sleeves until the eleventh hour.
They also misinterpreted Rep. Garin’s actuation after seeing him on several occasions worming his way closer to President Rodrigo R. Duterte every time there was an opportunity.
Like in the recent SONA where Rep. Garin was caught in the camera smiling from ear to ear as he slowly approached and slightly tried to touch the president as the latter was shaking the hands of legislators while moving outside the Batasang Pambansa.
These doubting Thomases have probably forgotten that Rep. Garin’s wife, former health secretary Janette, is now in trouble because of the Dengvaxia mess.
Which is more important? To secure the graces of the president in order to win an important elective post in 2019, or to see your wife completely unburdened from any criminal liability? Think.

Do city mayors need to travel abroad?

“No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.”
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Critics ribbed the late former Iloilo City mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon and former mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor for being “barriotic mayors” because they never attended a single international conference for city mayors during their administrations in the 90s.
Ganzon, of course, traveled a lot outside the Philippines when he was a senator from 1963 to 1969 as part of his legislative mandate.
Being “barriotic mayors”, as we very well know, did not diminish their effectiveness as public servants.
Even without any junket abroad, both Ganzon and Malabor were hands-on leaders who never had any deficiency in the services they rendered for Iloilo City.
Ganzon and Malabor may not have yielded to the increasing and growing demands of the climate of global synergy during their terms, but they were holed up in giving priority and attention to the more practical and immediate social concerns of their constituents in the barangays.
Iloilo City mayors started to expand their political, cultural and economic horizons internationally starting when Jerry P. Treñas served as the city mayor for three consecutive terms from 2001 to 2010.

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As the national president of League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) during the term of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Treñas became a globetrotter.
He racked up more than a dozen foreign trips, all in relation to his mandate as the local chief executive of Iloilo City and as the LCP boss.
When Jed Patrick Mabilog took over as city mayor in 2011, he also circumnavigated the globe in relation to his job as a father of Iloilo City like Treñas; Mabilog even landed as the No. 5 in World Mayor 2014.
Following their footsteps today is incumbent Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III, who have already gone to the United States for the Iloilo Trade Mission in June and in Singapore for the World Cities Summit in July this year in only nine months since he became the city mayor.
Mayor Joe III is expected to crisscross the sky some more for the future international conferences before and after the 2019 elections, if he wins.

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As part of the global village in this age of social media, cyberspace and globalization, our mayors or other local officials for that matter, should travel or accept invitations to go abroad, once in a while, and connect with the rest of the world or be left behind.
Interacting with foreign counterparts and actively participating in floor discussions and policy making deliberations in the summits is tantamount to upgrading their leadership skills and solidifying the selling points of the city that they represent.
There are major conferences calendared annually that seriously tackle bilateral modernization plans, trade packages, exchange programs, long-term infrastructure grants; paradigm shifts in environment, health, economic, tourism, education, culture, and related concerns that need the physical attendance of city mayors and not necessarily the attendance of heads of state or presidents.

If Marivic isn’t qualified, who will the Mabilogs endorse?

“When politics is no longer a mission but a profession, politicians become more self-serving than public servants.”
--Emmanuel Macron

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- The first thing enemies of former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog will agitate is that “Victoria 'Marivic' Griengo Mabilog is a Canadian citizen, thus she is not qualified to run for any public office in 2019.”
This argument is presumably being prepared by Mabilog’s critics amid reports that the former first lady of Iloilo City, who is now out of the Philippines, is being pushed by some Ilonggos to run for city mayor in May 2019.
Only the Commission on Elections (Comelec) can tell if Mrs. Mabilog is qualified or not.
Mrs. Mabilog has not made any official announcement regarding the report.
If Mrs. Mabilog is qualified under the law and decides to throw her hat in the mayoralty race, she will be squaring off with two of her husband’s former chief political allies -- Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” P. Treñas and Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III.

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If the law will allow Mrs. Mabilog to run for mayor, she will certainly give the warring gentlemen a titanic headache as she is going to collect all the “wasted” votes when the combined empires of Treñas and Joe III collapse owing to their imminent disintegration.
If Mrs. Mabilog will nix politics, on the other hand, there is no assurance, that the Mabilog couple will take sides in the full-blown political Armageddon between Treñas and Joe III.
Since most of former Mayor Mabilog’s key acolytes are now working with Mayor Espinosa, many City Hall occupants believe the Mabilogs will throw their support behind the incumbent mayor who was Mabilog’s running mate in the 2016 elections.

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But a reliable source informed this writer that the Mabilogs “might endorse no candidate for Iloilo City mayor.”
The Mabilogs are still reportedly “hurting” after nobody from the city government--meaning former Mayor Mabilog’s political allies in the city council, including then vice mayor Joe III and Rep. Treñas themselves--stood up to defend the embattled Mayor Mabilog from President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s relentless threats and attacks; and his false accusations that Mayor Mabilog was a “narco politician.”
Even Mayor Mabilog’s second cousin, Senator Franklin Drilon, did nothing to at least cushion the impact of the president’s lethal blows against the hapless Mabilog south of the border.
Whether the Mabilogs also have hard feelings toward their second cousin is something they alone know.
This revelation of a possible “non-support” from the Mabilog family must be painful to both (Treñas and Joe III) parties.
Those who cast doubts and question the motives of this disclosure can always verify the story from “authorized” people-or from the Mabilog husband and wife themselves for more precise and accurate information.

A waste of time to run after ‘playboy cops’

“I think I'm a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it's authority that I respect.”
--Tupac Shakur

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- When President Rodrigo R. Duterte arrived at the Iloilo International Convention Center for the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) 2nd Quarterly National Executive Officers and National Board Meeting on June 20, he was met outside by Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III, who bowed before the Philippines’ highest official like a Japanese after holding and shaking the president’s right hand with his two hands.
Mayor Joe III’s gesture was normally a form of greeting, probably a sign of respect performed by other leaders almost everywhere in Korea, Japan, Vietnam and China.
Aside from using it to welcome VIPs (very important persons), head bowing is also done before and after martial arts practice and competition, at tea ceremonies and at religious shrines.
Bowing of the head is quite complex and may be used to express deference, sincerity, humility and remorse, although it may look simple like what Mayor Joe III did.

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Mayor Joe III’s critics, however, have their own interpretations of that extra body language.
They thought there’s more than meets the eye in the city mayor’s “over reaction.”
They theorized Mayor Joe III had been “starstrucked” or “only intimidated.” Or both.
A handshake would have been enough, they said, since lowering ourselves make us look smaller and less threatening in the concept rooted in animalistic tendencies especially when we come face-to-face with a bear.
Since head bowing is a normal practice in Asia, it’s fine for Mayor Joe III to do it in front of a visiting president, a person in authority whose reputation is worse than a bear especially when dealing with criminals.

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Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, the new Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, said the Philippine National Police (PNP) will not condone married cops maintaining illicit affairs or having mistresses.
They give the PNP a bad name, Chief Supt. Bulalacao lamented.
He pointed to the PNP’s Chiefs of Police Manual lists the ethical standards for policemen: Morality, judicious use of authority, justice, humility, orderliness, and perseverance, according to reports.
The police general bewailed that womanizers in the police organization are “answerable to God and to the laws of the land.”
Chief Supt. Bulalacao is correct.

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But the PNP will waste precious time if they will run after organic members engaging in sexual peccadilloes. In the Philippines, some of those who have more than one wives are cops and military men.
Next are politicians and media personalities.
It’s in our culture which is patriarchal by nature.
Some Filipino women are suckers to a “false sense of authority” and a “false sense of security.”
If the male perpetrator has a gun or position, he is being looked up to as a “savior” and “powerful”, thus even if he isn’t handsome-or even if he isn’t rich-a woman will easily fall for him.

Will a Rosalie Treñas-Joe III tandem solve the skirmish?

“The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.”

 --Theodore Roosevelt

 By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III has refused to blink in the mind game versus his brother-in-law, Iloilo City lone district Rep. Jerry P. Treñas (PDP-Laban), and has finally let the cat out of the bag: Joe III is running for mayor on May 14, 2019.

This will pit Mayor Joe III against Treñas, reputed to be the new de facto political king of Iloilo City, the tag previously held by the late former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr.

Mayor Joe III’s decision has dashed to pieces all hopes of a potent Treñas-Espinosa family express train versus “the rest of the world”--meaning all the combined and throbbing political forces in Iloilo City wishing to eviscerate the “elite” political Treñas and Espinosa clans from the metropolis’ political map.

But wait a minute.

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Except for a “Divine intervention” as we mentioned here in the previous columns that includes an attempt to tap Mrs. Rosalie Treñas as candidate for congresswoman in a line-up with Mayor Joe III and Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon.

This would mean Rep. Treñas “sacrificing” for his wife and canceling his bid to run for mayor if only to preserve their political family and wrest total control of Iloilo City’s political supremacy for the two hugely politically superior clans.

If Madame Rosalie, sister of Mayor Joe III’s wife, First Lady Gina, won’t run, there is no other “Divine intervention” that can be bruited about to salvage the irritating and frustrating falling-out of the two clans which developed when there was no clear and present threat from other political forces.

Rep. Treñas himself was still hoping that Mayor Joe III would change his heart and mind and run for congressman in order not to divide their formidable slate.

But recent developments showd Mayor Joe III was now willing to crosss the Rubicon river and risk being “eliminated” from the political landscape in the event he loses against Treñas in the battle for City Hall in 2019.

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Mayor Joe III believes he has gained the momentum by virtue of his having governed as city mayor without any hitch and obstacle, so far, since October 2017 when the Ombudsman ousted Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

In Mayor Joe III’s mind, there is no heavy negative issue to be thrown his way in the event his feud with Treñas goes full blast especially during the chaotic campaign period.

Only the entry of Madame Rosalie will change the entire picture for the time being.

As the saying goes, in every problem there is a solution.

Iloilo City trade mission, a brilliant idea

“From my very first day as an entrepreneur, I've felt the only mission worth pursuing in business is to make people's lives better.”
--Richard Branson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Whoever conceived the idea of holding the first-ever Iloilo City Trade Mission and Investment Forum Ilonggo Fashion and Jewelry Show in the East Coast must be a visionary.
The mission is on the right track of globalization.
Convenors of this brilliant project certainly wanted to link Iloilo City to the world in a unique fashion; they wanted foreign businessmen, investors, students, tourists, as well as Filipinos living in the United States and other parts of the world, to “invest, work, create, study, retire, live, and grow” in Iloilo City.
City hall and Iloilo City’s business sector, in fact, have assembled some of the finest, aggressive, and very talented “missionaries” with global minds and technical capabilities to promote local products and tourism as well as investment opportunities no other cities in the Philippines can offer.

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The trade mission, which started on June 1 and officially introduced in a formal program on June 4 at the Kalayaan Hall and Kalayaan Annex of the Philippine Center (which also houses the Philippine Consulate General), is being headed by Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III and his wife, Mrs. Regine “Gina” Sarabia-Espinosa.
They are being backed by key advisers in local government and academe like Commercial Diplomat for Trade Relations and Executive Assistant Rex L. Aguado, City Tourism Officer Junel Ann Divinagracia, City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) chief Jose Roni Peñalosa, Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) chief Ariel “Aye” Castaneda, Dr. Carmencita “Menchie” Robles, dean of the West Visayas State Universty (WVSU) College of Mass Communications; University of the Philippines in the Visayas Vice Chancellor Mary Ann Gumban, Iloilo Business Park-Megaworld Sales Director Carla Margarita Perez, and Eon Group of Companies Founder and CEO and Iloilo Trade and Investments Board Co-chair Felicito Tiu, among others.
Among the topics to be discussed are property development, Infotech and infrastructure pipeline; Iloilo City’s premier schools, business matching and networking.

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The exhibit will feature Habol Ilonggo: Fashion and Jewlery Show by Djohn Clement, Totong Gellangarin, Bo Parcon, Aisha Penalosa, Jaki Penalosa, and Edison Ruedas directed by Iloilo Provincial Tourism Officer Bombette Golez Marin.
Tess Salvador, a pioneer in the promotion of heritage Hablon fabric and the craft of Habol--the art of Ilonggo traditional weaving, and Jhett Tolentino, Tony Award-winning Filipino theatre producer of “Dungog Sang Dakbanwa Sang Iloilo 2017” awardee and dedicated son of Iloilo, will be given recognition.
Also to be recognized are: The Philippine Consulate General and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New York as venue partner of PHILCOMAN and the Iloilo City Trade Delegation, and the 2018 Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. as organizers of the 120th Philippine Independence Anniversary Commemoration in New York City.
Other schedules outside New York City are: Investment forum at University of North America, Fairfax, Virginia on June 6; Childhood Education Study in Washington D.C. in the morning and Investment Forum in the evening at the Philippine Embassy on June 7; a tour in Washington D.C. on June 8; a Philippine Independence Day Ball in the evening at Hilton, East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 9.
Members of the Iloilo Trade Mission depart to the Philippines on June 10.

Dinagyang’s New York trip on despite visa problems

“Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission.”
-- Zig Ziglar

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- The participation of a tribe from Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival in the 120th Philippine Independence Day parade here on June 3 was nearly canceled after tribe members encountered visa problems in the US Embassy in Manila.
This was revealed by Joji Juele-Jalandoni, former president of the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI), who called up this writer morning May 26 to convey the message that “everything is set and ready after the problem has been resolved.”
Jalandoni, from Victorias Milling Company in Negros Occidental, said if the problem was not fixed on time, only the nine-day “Iloilo City Trade Mission and Investment Forum” from June 1 to June 9 would be held without the Dinagyang tribe in the parade to be represented by 2018 grand champion, Tribu Panayanon, of the Iloilo City National High School.

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Jalandoni said another tribe from Guimaras’ Mangghan Festival, Hubon Manguguma, will represent the Philippines together with Tribu Panayanon in the biggest Filipino-American Independence Day parade in the East Coast that is expected to attract some 100,000 audience on Madison Avenue.
“They (Dinagyang and Manggahan contingent) will arrive on May 31 (US time),” confirmed Jalandoni, a registered nurse in New Jersey, who is responsible for bringing the two festivals from Iloilo City and Guimaras here.
Problems hounded Tribu Panayanon after only 11 members were given travel visa by the US Embassy, Jalandoni said.
“They have to recruit warriors from Tribu Salognon who already have the visa in order to complete the team, thus the problem was resolved,” she explained. “It’s not nice to see only 11 warriors dancing during the parade.”
Tribu Salognon is the 2016 grand champion and represented the country in the New York parade’s 118th edition.
The first-ever trade mission, to be led by Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III and Mrs. Gina Sarabia-Espinosa, will fly to New York via Hong Kong on May 29 (Philippine time) and will arrive in the US on board Cathay Pacific on May 29 (US time).

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The Espinosa couple, accompanied by Iloilo City Tourism Officer Junel Ann Divinagracia, Executive Assistant Enrique “Rex” Aguado and Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) chief Ariel “Aye” Castaneda, fashion designers Jackie Penalosa and Bo Parcon, journalists Florence Hibionada (The Daily Guardian), Tara Yap (Manila Bulletin), and Herbert Vego (Panay News), West Visayas State University (WVSU) College of Mass Communications dean, Dr. Carmencita “Menchie” Robles, among others, will grace the opening of Ilonggo fashion and jewelry exhibit at the Philippine Center Gallery on 556 Fifth Avenue on June 1.
The Ilonggo trade missionaries are tasked to “introduce” Iloilo City to New York City, Washington DC and Fairfax, Virginia through roadshows showcasing the creations of Ilonggo jewellers, fashion designers and property developers.
Espinosa will host a UP Alumni event on June 2.
The annual parade, spearheaded by PIDCI, will blast off at 12 noon on June 3, followed by cultural presentations.
The city mayor and several representatives from the private sector will hold the Trade and Investment Forum at the Philippine Center.

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Famed NY-based Ilonggo entertainment producer Jhett Tolentino will spearhead the group in a Broadway tour at seven o’clock in the evening on June 5.
An investment forum at University of North America, Fairfax, Virginia will be held on June 6.
This will be followed by a Childhood Education Study in Washington D.C. in the morning and Investment Forum in the evening at the Philippine Embassy on June 7.
The Iloilo contingent will tour Washington D.C. on June 8.
The will cap their US visit with a Philippine Independence Day Ball in the evening at Hilton, East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 9.
Members of the Iloilo Trade Mission depart to the Philippines on June 10.

Ilonggos in New York show big heart for ‘Dinagyang, 'Manggahan'

“A Christian reveals true humility by showing the gentleness of Christ, by being always ready to help others, by speaking kind words and performing unselfish acts, which elevate and ennoble the most sacred message that has come to our world.” 

--Ellen G. White

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- It is their “pag-malasakit” (compassion) and “pag-ulikid” (concern) for fellow Ilonggos who will arrive here for the 120th Philippine Independence Day 28th Annual Parade on June 3, 2018 that prompted Boy Dinzon and his fellow Ilonggos based in New Jersey and New York to launch the “Dinagyang and Manggahan sa NYC Fundraising Dinner” on June 1 at the Draesel Hall of the Church of the Holy Trinity on 88th Street in Yorkville, Manhattan.
“As much as possible we want to remain anonymous; we only want to help. That’s all,” sighed Dinzon, former staff of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Iloilo ticketing office, who now resides in New Jersey. “Sin o pa abi ang mag binuligay kundi kita man nga mga Ilonggo (As Ilonggos, we all need to help each other).”
Dizon’s group include Grace Uybico, Camille Dabao, Agnes Jamora, Agnes Montelibano, Vincent Dabao, Tonette Dabao, Frankie Uy Bico, Shirley Cordova, and Joe Nick “Nonot” Dinzon, who are mostly from the Iloilo Assumption Group.

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Dinzon added: “We are aware that they always encounter problems on funds. They definitely need financial support and we are doing our part to at least contribute something. By all means we need to help them because they are representing and promoting our culture and heritage as Ilonggos.”
Dinzon is referring to the big contingent from Iloilo City and Guimaras led by officials and “warriors” from the Dinagyang Festival and Manggahan Festival, which will join the parade’s anniversary commemoration with a theme, “Pagbubunyi Sa Ating Mga Bayani-Ang Hangarin ay Pagkakaisa” or “Honoring Our Heroes-Inspiring Solidarity among us all” on Madison Avenue.
With the support of the Philippine Consulate General in New York, the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) led by president Antenor “Ner” Martinez, is the parade organizer.
Joji Juele-Jalandoni, a New Jersey-based registered nurse, personally went to Iloilo City and Guimaras in January this year to invite the two festival groups.
She is PIDCI past president and a native of Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

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Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III and the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc. led by Ramon Cua Locsin, Mrs. Gina Sarabia-Espinosa, Iloilo City Tourism Officer Junel Ann Divinagracia, Iloilo Provincial Tourism Officer Bombette Golez Marin, Guimaras Provincial Tourism Officer Liberty Ferrer and 10 Guimaras officials, will also join the Iloilo City Trade Mission sponsored by the PHILCOMAN in partnership with the Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce Washington DC (PACC DC).
Mrs. Sarabia-Espinosa will be joined by a group of Iloilo City’s top fashion designers and artists led by highly-regarded Bo Parcon, according to Dinzon.
Sarabia-Espinosa’s group will hold an exhibit to showcase Iloilo City’s potentials on June 4 at the Philippine Consulate General on Fifth Avenue.

Joshua Alim might steal the show

“With but few exceptions, it is always the underdog who wins through sheer willpower.”
--Johnny Weissmuller

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- With 12 months to go before the 2019 congressional elections in the Philippines, Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III and brother-in-law, Iloilo City Rep. Jerry P. Treñas, are still adamant to disclose their complete line-up.
Their alleged “quarrel” has already bordered on soap opera.
Others swallow the “feud” hook, line and sinker; but some astute analysts think they’re just rerouting the procession which will eventually end up in the church anyway.
Aside from confirming that “I am definitely running in 2019”, Mayor Joe III has continued to keep his followers and critics in suspended terror; the mayor and the congressman have continued to cultivate an air of unpredictability (Law 17 of the 48 Laws of Power).
Although mayoralty aspirant Treñas has revealed his running mate would be Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon, he hasn’t announced his candidate for congressman, a crux that has raised some eyebrows.
Egged by some confused supporters to “stay put” and run for city mayor versus Treñas, Mayor Joe III himself has refused to reveal his political cards for 2019, thus deepening the mystery further.
The million dollar question for Joe III is still: to run for mayor or to run for congressman alongside Treñas and Ganzon?
Their supporters in Iloilo City and abroad want to know.
Impatient and excited Ilonggos are hankering for an honest-to-goodness answer; they want it now, and they want it quick.
But even if we can bring the horses to water, still we can’t force them to drink.

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This will give trail horse Councilor Joshua Alim, the most senior among the incumbent oppositions in the city council, the opportunity to woo the Ilonggos and unveil his intention to run for the position to be vacated by Treñas.
Now that Alim has secured the support of businessman and former mayoral candidate Rommel Ynion and probably the Gonzalez political clan, led by matriarch Dr. Pacita Trinidad Gonzalez, he can be a sentimental favorite if he announces his bid soon.
While the Joe III-Treñas-Ganzon camp dilly-dallies on the disclosure of its ticket in the major positions, Alim may start barnstorming the metropolis’ 180 barangays where some of the newly elected officials are fresh faces and incorruptible.
In terms of political upset, Alim may use 1992 political neophyte Rafael “Paeng” Lopez-Vito as a model and rallying point.
Even before then semi-retired former senator Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon announced his intention to run for congressman in the city’s lone district, Lopez-Vito, a lawyer and a political nobody, was already literally painting the town red, announcing to all and sundry he was running for congressman even months before the start of election season.
Nobody gave the “elite” Lopez-Vito a slim chance to bring down the vastly mighty Ganzon, but the shocking defeat of formerly one of the country’s much-heralded lawmakers in the class of Ferdinand Marcos, Jovito Salonga and Ninoy Aquino to a “wet-behind-the-ears” Lopez-Vito became a hot and serious topic in political science classes for more than two decades.

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Alim, 53, is one of the only few Iloilo City officials--past and incumbent--who is consistent in his crusade against Panay Electric Company’s (PECO) alleged inefficiency, overcharging, among other “abuses.”
Even before he became a city councilor, Alim was already in the forefront of the battle against PECO’s “astronomical” distribution and generation fees along with feisty lawyer Romeo Gerochi, father of Councilor R Leone "Boots" Gerochi, and the late former city councilor German T. Gonzales in early 1990s.
Although some “ingrate” Ilonggo consumers did not go all out for Alim in his losing bid for city mayor against Treñas in 2004, the pride of Koronadal, South Cotabato continued to score high in public approval ratings these past years.
Former media colleague Florence Hibionada described Alim as “a very sincere public servant who visits a vigil for the dead even without the elections.”
He has friends and admirers in all sectors, especially the urban poor, the youth and the senior citizens.

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Alim, my former media colleague and kumpare (we are godfathers to the twins, Raymond and Rainier, sons of Iloilo community affairs chief Nereo Lujan), has carved a niche in public service during his days as a Bombo Radyo Iloilo reporter in the late 80’s until he passed the bar in 1991.
As a newly minted lawyer, he agreed to face his former law professor in the Central Philippine University (CPU), now Judge Nery Duremdes, in a media labor case, the first controversial case he handled as associate of Bedona and Bedona Law Offices in 1992, and won.
When I volunteered to enter the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) jail (I was ordered by then ICPO chief Dionisio Duco) for “fighting” in 1993, then Atty. Alim, clad in Barong Tagalog, arrived and chided me, “Pre, naga ano ka da sa sulod man? Indi ka da angayan gua da (Buddy, what are you doing inside? You don’t belong there. Get out!).”
If the mayoral contest will be crowded, Alim, who has never been tainted as a public servant, may be ripe to shoot for the congressional seat.
Some of his peers in the law profession in Mindanao and other parts of the country may be waiting for him in Congress.