Ilonggos in Malacanang if Binay becomes president

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” Brian Tracy

By Alex P. Vidal

ILOILO Governor Arthur “Art” Defensor Sr. is an “aksyon agad” leader.

Immediately after he read our article about the fuel pilferage issue allegedly committed by some dishonest employees and officials of the Iloilo Provincial Engineer’s Office (PEO), he directed provincial administrator Raul Banas to task PEO chief Gracianito Lucero to investigate the matter and face the media.

Lucero denied during a press conference on Friday our other allegations here earlier that some provincial engineers owned expensive vehicles and paraded those luxury cars in the capitol parking areas in violation of government policy on ostentatious display of wealth.   

"As far as I know there are no luxury vehicles owned by provincial engineers. If there is any I think they have the means to have that and they acquired those not through what is stated in the article,” Lucero said, quoted by The Daily Guardian reporter Louine Hope Conserva in her article.

Lucero added: “As government officials and employees we submit every year our SALNs. In fact within the week we received a letter from the Human Resource Management and Development Office (HRMDO) to submit our SALNs before April 30.”

In a follow up report, Conserva quoted Banas as saying that he would form a fact-finding team to look into reports of “pa-ihi” or fuel pilferage in the PEO.

Banas confirmed he heard the report as early as in 2011 but could not identify the culprits due to lack of evidence and probably lack of cooperation from involved parties and witnesses.

Even the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) requested by Banas to investigate the matter, failed to solve the malfeasance, admitted Banas.

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If we base our assessment on what we regularly read in the newspapers and in the social media; what we saw and heard on TV and on broadcast media, we can now, more or less, have a bird’s eye view on who will possibly join Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay in Malacanang Palace from Iloilo if agitators of the Aquino Resign Movement (ARM) succeed; or if Binay wins the presidency in 2016.

Binay has been diligently wooing Iloilo leaders in these past 24 months, and we are seeing the same faces of local politicians tagging along and swapping laughter with the diminutive kingpin of Makati in his out-of-town sorties.  

They will always insist there’s no politics involved in those visits with municipal mayors, municipal councilors, village chiefs and smaller private organizations, but as the popular saying goes, “tell it to the marines!”

Retired Philippine News Agency (PNA) Iloilo chief Neonita “Mommy Nitz” Gobuyan recently told Binay straight in his face: “Sir, you will be the next president of the Philippines.”

“Of course, I could not tell him that if I were still in government,” Gobuyan sighed. “Now that I am retired, I am free to say anything without any fear.”

Gobuyan said she noticed “a groundswell of support” for Binay in the countryside.

INTERESTED

“People are not anymore interested on the investigation of the alleged corruption in Makati under Binay. People are more interested now on the Mamasapano massacre of 44 troopers and they are angry,” she added. “I met Binay (in Iloilo). Ang naga drive sa iya si Nelson Golez (a popular DPWH contractor).”

The almost all pro-Franklin Drilon Iloilo city council will be decimated once the formidable members of the “Voltes 5” led by Councilors Joshua Alim and Plaridel Nava start to bolt out and go all-out for Binay.

Alim and Nava are two of the most active and visible Binay allies in the city. They joined Binay in his trip back to Manila last Friday.

Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones has openly hosted Binay in his recent Iloilo trip where the vice president visited five municipalities.

Depending on the result of tug-of-war between Iloilo fifth district Liberal Party loyalist Rep. Neil “Jun-jun” Tupas Jr. and younger brother, Vice Governor Raul Tupas, the latter might end up running for congressman in their district under Binay against Yvonne Angeli Lee Tupas, Junjun’s wife.

ADVOCATE

But for RAM Iloilo advocate Atty. Pascual “Junie” Espinosa Jr., “Binay is already a spent force.”

“He has reached his peak and will slide down (in the survey),” predicted Espinosa. “His popularity will have no match against the endless accusations of corruption in the senate hearing. Once people perceive you as a corrupt leader, you will go down in the long run.”

Espinosa and his RAM Iloilo cohorts demand for President Simeon Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s “immediate” resignation owing to the Mamasapano 44 fiasco, but are not inclined to support Binay as Aquino’s successor.

They want a shift to federal system of government as a solution to solve the country’s problems on the Moro secessionists.

No need to tell P-Noy to relocate Malacanang to Iloilo

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”  John C. Maxwell

By Alex P. Vidal

When President Noynoy Aquino visited Iloilo City last June 27, Senate President Frank Drilon did not have to repeat the mea culpa he made in July 2005 when he asked then President Gloria Arroyo to relocate Malacanang to Iloilo because of heated anti-administration rallies in Metro Manila.

It may be recalled that a week later, Drilon and his fellow members of “Hyatt 10” withdrew support from Mrs. Aquino, but failed to topple the diminutive but wily Pampangena from the presidency when calls for withdrawal of support made to other governors in the country failed to snowball.

Ilonggos hated graft and corruption, poll cheating and the country’s lack of direction in the socio-economic and political spheres, but they were not ready to risk the country’s future in the hands of homunculi political adventurists.

The Brutuses, who were mostly members of the Arroyo cabinet, turned their backs from their lady boss and decided to cut and cut clean in a foiled bid to install Vice President Noli De Castro as new president and Drilon as new vice president.

GOVERNORS

All governors in Western Visayas, however, ignored Drilon except Iloilo Governor Neil Tupas Sr. Iloilo City mayor and now Rep. Jerry Trenas sided with Mrs. Arroyo, his former college professor. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. and son, Rep. Raul Jr., also prevailed over the Ilonggos to rally behind the embattled Mrs. Arroyo.

In Bacolod City, then representative and now Mayor Monico Puentevella, Mrs Arroyo’s chief ally and regular companion in foreign trips, moved heaven and earth so that Negrenses wouldn’t jump ship despite his stormy relationship with then mayor and now Rep. Evelio Leonardia. Western Visayas – Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros, Guimaras – rescued Arroyo from FPJ’s Mindanao juggernaut in the 2004 presidential polls.

The political atmosphere when Mrs. Arroyo was in Iloilo in July 2005 was different compared last June 27, 2014. The nation at that time was like a brewing cauldron with opposition leaders, including some disloyal Arroyo minions, concealing a hatchet in their chests in the heat of the “Hello Garci” tumult that refused to die down months after Mrs. Arroyo put away the late Fernando Poe Jr. in the presidential elections.

President Aquino is not a hated figure compared to Mrs. Arroyo. Despite the skullduggery committed by some of his cabinet men and his bizarre mannerisms, President Aquino is still perceived by most Ilonggos to be incorruptible.

Rallies in Metro Manila ripped him not because he amassed unexplained wealth and murdered critics, but because of perceptions that he reenacted the same policies adopted by his predecessors that impoverished the nation and empowered the oligarchs.

INVITATION

When he made that infamous invitation to Mrs. Arroyo to transfer Malacanang to Iloilo in a speech, Drilon probably did not anticipate the tidal wave of negative reaction from the public. Without the “Hyatt 10” mutiny, the invitation would have been dismissed as a mere consuelo de bobo (an idiot’s recompense) for a woman leader who appeared to be fast losing a mass base as a consequence of that ill-advised “I’m sorry” spectacle.

Malacanang does not need to be transferred elsewhere literally. Malacanang is the president himself. A good president makes a good leader and leaves an indelible mark in the hearts of the people.

A bad president can never be absolved by any relocation of the seat of power. His incompetence and inefficiency will haunt him whether he holds office in Metro Manila or in Visayas and in Mindanao.

INAUGURATE

Aquino was in Iloilo City to inaugurate the P4-billion worth of infrastructure projects that included the P2.1 billion Iloilo circumferential road, the ongoing construction of the P700-million Iloilo Convention Center, the P550-million Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue, and the P170-million Iloilo River NHA Subdivision Phase I in barangays Lanit and Camalig in Jaro district.

Judging from the support shown by local leaders led by Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. and Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, we don’t see any tell tale signs that some Iloilo and Bacolod leaders will ditch President Aquino now that the choice for his successor in 2016 has become crystal clear.

Western Visayas governors and mayors, however, did not prevent some of their factotums to escort and spend precious time with Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was also in Iloilo City attending to other activities.

It was a rare occasion where the country’s top three leaders were present in one city to inaugurate and attend to different activities. Their presence in Iloilo City immediately caught political fire and brimstone in the national level.

It is said that in politics, when Western Visayas growls, the whole nation listens.