Ilonggo lawmakers expected to follow suit

 

“Under every stone lurks a politician.”

—Aristophanes

By Alex P. Vidal

 

ILONGGO lawmakers felt alluded as members of the “rotten” House of Representatives are also expected to jump ship and abandon the

Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party headed by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP).

Like their colleagues from other regions nationwide, this is the right opportunity to justify the exodus, which is actually a normal proceeding in Philippine politics each time a new administration takes over.

This developed as 11 lawmakers, mostly belonging to PDP-Laban, have also joined the PFP in addition to several local government officials who had earlier moved to the new ruling party.

The Ilonggo lawmakers are expected to make their moves soon so as not to be caught in a “traffic” so to speak, where they could no longer be the “center of attraction” if they dillydallied or decided too late.

Politicians love to be noticed and mentioned in the mass media while doing a dramatic thing such as the transfer of allegiance from one political party to another.

This is not an earthshaking event in the Philippines. If nobody will do this, it’s news. If there’s an exodus, it’s not news.

To quote the line popularized by late Senate president Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez, “Politics is addition”, which is a rule still followed by most politicians nowadays.

Those who have the numbers always win in every political competition and this has remained unchanged from the time of Rodriguez, except that the contest before was between the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party (LP). 

The multiparty system today has made it even more crucial to get the greatest number of supporters to carry a party to victory. And all the lawmakers and LGU executives are aware of this fact.

 

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The congressmen who transferred to the PFP were Francisco Benitez (3rd District Negros Occidental), Richard Gomez (4th District Leyte), Ralph Wendel Tulfo (2nd District Quezon City), Maria Jamina Katherine Agarao (4th District Laguna), Glona Labadlabad (2nd District Zamboanga del Norte), Marlyn Primicias-Agabas (6th District Pangasinan), Florida Robes (San Jose del Monte City), Leody Tarriela (Occidental Mindoro), Rosanna Vergara (3rd District Nueva Ecija), and Linabelle Villarica (4th District Bulacan).

Also joining the PFP were Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin "Benhur" Abalos Jr., Quirino Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua, Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres, Cabanatuan City Mayor Myca Vergara, Meycauayan City Mayor Henry Villarica, Cabanatuan City Vice Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara, and Surallah Vice Mayor Antonio Bendita.

No congresssman from Iloilo and Panay for that matter has transferred yet as of this writing.

A member of the Nacionalista Party, Agarao, who was from Lakas-CMD, and Tarriela and Cua who belonged to the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS), all the new PFP members were from the PDP-Laban, except for Tulfo.

South Cotabato 1st District Rep. Isidro Lumayag will also take his oath as a PFP member.

Abalos took his oath as a PFP member on Friday afternoon.

Presidential son and Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander "Sandro" Marcos joined his father's party in August.

 

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STEAMY SUBMARINE CHAT LINE. Researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory have figured out how to focus laser beams to produce a controlled burst of underwater sound. Using a mix of lasers that emit slightly varying frequencies of light, the process superheats a small area of water, producing a small explosion of steam and a 220-decibel sound pulse.

AIR FORCE'S NUCLEAR RESET.  Sometimes a single bad day can reshape an entire military service. The U.S. Air Force was humiliated in late 2007 when aircrews unwittingly loaded six live nuclear warheads onto a B-52 bomber, believing them to be unarmed cruise missiles.

LARGE BREASTS. Some of the largest breasts ever recorded figure in the book "Human Oddities" by Martin Monestier. The weight of each breast of the woman he mentions in the book is 44 pounds (19.8 kg) while their circumference is 33" (83.82 cm).

ENHANCERS. Globally, the top three sexual enhancers are pornography, pleasure enhancing condoms, and lubricants. (Source: Human Sexuality Research Institute)

GERASCOPHOBIA is fear of growing old. But we will all go there whether we like it or not--unless we die young!

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

Did ‘Ate Glo’ help Treñas?

“Once you embrace the absolute truth that every leader needs a mentor, you can begin to achieve the massive growth and success that you seek.”
--Clay Clark

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Just in case some Ilonggos have forgotten, one of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s most favorite city mayors from 2004 until 2010 was Atty. Jerry P. Treñas, now the congressman of the lone district of Iloilo City.
The Ilonggo solon holds a special place in 71-year-old Ate Glo’s heart until now.
Not everyone knows that Ate Glo was Treñas’ former mentor in college.
It was during Ate Glo’s term in Malacanang when Treñas was elected as chairman of the influential and powerful League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).
When Ate Glo was under siege from the “Hyatt 10” (composed of her cabinet officials who resigned and demanded for her ouster) at the height of the “Hello Garci” controversy in 2008, Treñas, now 61, mobilized the LCP, which came up with a strong manifesto of support signed by 77 of 119 city mayors in the Philippines on March 4, 2008.

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"The political noise which is mainly in Metro Manila does not represent the true sentiments of the people of the Philippines. While some people are out in the streets to rouse mass fervor, a greater number are bound to respect the proper Constitutional means of ferreting out the truth. And the League of Cities of the Philippines belongs to the greater number – with sobriety and unity," read part of their statement.
Treñas and his ilk emphasized that they issued the manifesto because “the people were tired of politicking and did not want disruptions especially with the Philippines already on the road to progress due to the President's skillful handling of the economy.”
The Hyatt 10 failed to oust Ate Glo, who managed to withstand her political detractors’ terrifying assaults and finish her term.
That was one “utang na loob” or debt of gratitude Ate Glo owed Treñas that she probably would never forget for the rest of her life.

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When President Rodrigo R. Duterte ascended into power in 2016, Ate Glo, who was ordered detained for plunder during the term of her successor, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III, was released and became Duterte’s chief ally in the House of Representatives after she was elected as congresswoman.
Treñas, who became one of the top honcos of Liberal Party (LP) in Western Visayas during President Aquino’s term owing to his close association with Ilonggo Senator Franklin Drilon, jumped to the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan’s (PDP-Laban), President Duterte’s party, in April 2017.
He brought along then vice mayor and now Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III and majority of the members of the city council.
Treñas' presence in the administration party was met with suspicions and derision by his political enemies who blasted him for being a “turncoat”.
The situation became complicated when the PDP-Laban hierarchy installed Dr. Pacita Trinidad-Gonzalez, mother of Treñas’ political rival, Raul Jr., as Iloilo City district chair on top of the reported appointment of Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon, Gonzalez’s Nacionalista Party (NP) partymate, as President Duterte’s “point man” for Iloilo.

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After every mud, sling and arrow has been thrown, however, Treñas and Ganzon have combined forces and will be running mates for mayor and vice mayor in the 2019 elections.
As if the guessing game, thrill, shock and explosion were not enough, Treñas disclosed most recently that he was actually appointed as PDP-Laban “council president” in Iloilo City effective April 25, 2018 by no less than PDP-Laban national president Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, national secretary general House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and vice chairman Energy secretary Alfonso Cusi.
All of a sudden, the Iloilo City solon “eclipsed” Dr. Gonzalez and Vice Mayor Ganzon in as far as power shift and preferential recognition in the PDP-Laban is concerned.
Treñas’ sudden and big leap from a “transferee” to “council president” left all his enemies startled and dumbfounded.
His rise to the PDP-Laban top echelon was meteoric and head-turning.
Did Ate Glo play an important role?

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

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

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

By Alex P. Vidal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Not in Iloilo province.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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