If I want to...on Poe, Roxas, Duterte, Binay, Santiago

"Peace of mind comes from not wanting to change others."  
Gerald Jampolsky

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Until our next president is elected in May 2016, we continue to be a divided nation.
The gaping wounds of hostility and conflict will continue to exacerbate and won't heal for a while, because of cascading passion and emotional bickering brought by heated partisan politics.
Some friendships will suffer--or have already suffered--from mortal blows and may never be repaired again. 
Even family members have their own share of hellish moments because they have their respective bets for certain elective positions--the father for Vice President Jejomar Binay because of fraternity ties; the mother for Sec. Mar Roxas because of business attachment; and daughter and son for Grace Poe because of Eat Bulaga and Heart Evangelista.

CHANGE

We can't change the reputation of our leaders and the circumstances that made them famous and infamous--what and where they are now in the periphery of political hierarchy. 
But we can change the way we think, how we behave, and how to deal with these leaders or aspirants for higher public office, if given the opportunity to go along with any of them in a real or imagined world.
For instance, if I saunter in the lairs of the underworld, the beasts and the cannibals, I will ask Rodrigo Duterte to accompany me.
If I want to personally meet showbiz characters, ask autograph of Susan Roces, gyrate on noontime shows with Tito, Vic an Joey, and get to know more about sob stories involving foundlings, I want Grace Poe to be on my side.

FREE

If I want to watch free movies in the country's premier city and enjoy other pelf and privileges, dabble in construction business, corner rich contracts without the benefit of a bidding process, enlist as adult commander in the Boys Scouts of the Philippines, and open more than a dozen savings accounts, I will befriend Jejomar Binay.
If I want to have a "selfie" with Korina Sanchez without having to form a beeline in a Quezon City mansion and learn Economics 101, I will ask Mar Roxas to be my guidance counselor.  
If I want to meet Superman, Spiderman, Bionicman, Batman and Robin, Wonderwoman, join the Star Wars, and to have a Close Encounter with the Third Kind, I will stay beside Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
After all we are in a free world.

Miriam and Hillary: perfect match

"Some leaders are born women." Geraldine Ferraro

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- If Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago becomes Philippine president and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes US president this year, it will mark the first time that two lady presidents will lord over since the two countries signed the Treaty of General Relation on July 4, 1946.
The treaty relinquished American sovereignty over the archipelago following the end of World War II and the Philippines was recognized as an independent state.
It paved the way for the Philippine-American Friendship Day, which the Filipinos celebrate every 4th of July.
Like the late president Ferdinand Marcos, Santiago does not read her speech. 
The Filipinos were so proud when Marcos spoke extemporaneously or without any prepared speech during a 1982 state visit in Washington D.C. after then President Ronald Reagan finished reading his prepared speech in a White House ceremony.

PERFECT

Older by two years, the 70-year-old Santiago would be Clinton's perfect counterpart in the Asia-Pacific as they are both members of the legal profession, and have deeper understanding of diplomatic relations and international law.  
It would be a dream match to watch the two articulate and brilliant female leaders discuss issues in the age of technology and social media.
The summit meetings and state visits would no longer be boring.
There is also interesting comparison between their respective husbands.
While former president Bill was rumored to be a womanizer (who can forget the Monica Lewinsky scandal?), former DILG Undersecretary Narciso was rumored to be a gambler (cockfighting).

DELEGATES

But while Clinton is almost a cinch away from clinching the presidency in November (she is very much ahead in the number of delegates against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, and is favored based on various surveys to whip would-be Republican bet Donald Trump in the national contest), Santiago has not been doing well in surveys.
Her campaign has suffered a major snag due to health problems.
On the other hand, if Grace Poe wins in the May polls and Clinton clinches the US presidency, she may not be able to match Clinton's intellectual savvy and prowess; but, nevertheless, Poe will also make history like Santiago.

No ‘movement’ for cold Frank Drilon

“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” Mao Zedong

By Alex P. Vidal

THE LAUNCHING of several “for president movement” slogans in and outside the social media has become a fad among political organizers from various regions nowadays.

The Ilocanos have launched the “Bongbong Marcos for President Movement”; “Jojo Binay for President Movement” for the people of Makati; “Rudy Duterte for President Movement” from Davao; and “Mar Roxas for President Movement” for the people of Capiz, and so on and so forth.

But we have yet to hear the Ilonggos mount the “Frank Drilon for President Movement” battle cry.

Some remnants of the People’s Reform Party (PRP), however, have started to inch their way to various universities and colleges and re-echo the “Miriam Defensor-Santiago for President Movement”.

Defensor-Santiago and Drilon are two of the most battle-scarred and prominent politicians from Iloilo touted by experts as “presidentiables” or potential candidates for the highest office of the country.

Only Drilon, however, does not have a known “movement” or group of supporters pushing for his presidential candidacy in 2016.

MYSTERIOUS

We remember a mysterious “movement” that emerged several years ago when Drilon was still the labor secretary and subsequently the justice secretary under the Cory government.

This was the “Movement Against Drilon” or MAD.

Whatever its objective, how it all started and who were its organizers, it failed to derail the senate big man’s meteoric political rise.

Drilon is supposed to be the most senior among politicians queuing for the presidency.

The senate president is supposed to be among the closest to President Benigno “Nonoy” Aquino III.

Long before DILG boss Mar Roxas earned President Noynoy’s trust and confidence, Drilon was already working with the Aquino clan during the post-EDSA Revolution.

On July 28, 2005, Drilon’s fellow “Hyatt 10” mutineers were already prepared to hand him the vice presidency on a silver platter and install then Vice President Noli De Castro as president.

This was when they called for then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation in the heels of the “Hello Garci” scandal.

Drilon has served as cabinet official for five presidents in a row, and must have also been salivating for the presidency ahead of Roxas and Binay.

Only Drilon himself can confirm if he is really interested to run for president or vice president.

INTEREST

Ideally, the interest to run should come first from Drilon himself, not from any “movement”, in the event there is one.

But Drilon has been incoherently passive.

Even his body movements are formless in as far as the presidential derby is concerned.

Although both Marcos and Duterte have not yet confirmed they were interested to eye the presidency in 2016, their respective ”movements” have already started juxtaposing and combing the entire archipelago at fever-pitch these past months.

The Ilonggo votes are a force to reckon with in the national elections.

We are the third biggest voting population next to Luzon and Cebu.

There is an age-old political wisdom that says if you want to win a national office–for president, vice president and senator—you must win first in Western Visayas.

With all the support of political bigwigs in Western Visayas allied with the ruling Liberal Party, we are puzzled why until now no “movement” has snowballed to endorse Drilon’s bid in 2016.

If he is not really interested to run, no “movement” is necessary to push him.

Politics is not a game of coercion.

We can bring the horse to the river, but we can't force it to drink.

We might lose Miriam but not to a brain cancer

“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.” Jim Valvano

By Alex P. Vidal

In all her political life, critics have hounded Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago with catcalls and unsavory allusions to mental illnesses and below-the-belt potshots normally reserved for political gadflies and imbeciles.

A Manila bus carrying truckloads of anti-Erap protesters even emblazoned the vehicle with a giant caricature and a vitriol that screamed, “Miriam baliw!” (Miriam crazy) at the height of the myth called “Edsa II” where former President and now Manila Mayor Erap Estrada was toppled in 2001.

If Santiago “ate death threats for breakfast” during her tumultuous stint in the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation under the late President Cory Aquino, she swam with ridicules and insults from political adversaries allergic to her brand of politics.

Despite the brutal verbal snipes, Santiago soldiered on and nearly conquered Malacanang in 1992—no thanks to the sudden power blackout that lasted until she lost a commanding lead during the canvassing of votes in the presidential race against FVR.

BATTLE

In her battle against an ailment that contributes in the rapid change of her mood from good to bad vice versa, she was pilloried and branded with names.

Her most acerbic enemies in the rival Lakas-NUCD Party called her “Brenda” or brain damage. She laughed it off and “refused to go down to their level.”

Santiago may have lost her chance to win the top position in Malacanang due to a ramshackle political party and probably to poll cheating, but she remains the darling of young voters and university students wherever she goes all over the country—and the most sought-after commencement exercises speaker to boot.

When no one was gutsy enough to defend the politically deteriorating Erap in 2001, Santiago defied the odds and risked her disastrous 2004 senatorial reelection bid by siding with the besieged president.

Santiago, a constitutional expert, always had a mouthful to preach about the rule of law and the majesty of the constitution--which made her even more unpopular in the eyes of nondescript politicians unaccustomed to her unconventional style in interpreting ambiguous provisions of law.

VOTE

Her gallant vote against the move to impeach Chief Justice Renato Corona along with fellow senator-judges Joker Arroyo and Bongbong Marcos stood as a towering principle amid rumors of Malacanang payoff and bribery via the doomed Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) or pork barrel to cast a yes vote.

In the most recent debate related to the P10-billion pork barrel anomaly engineered by Janet Lim-Napoles, Santiago torn to shreds those whom she perceived to have connived with Napoles, including Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, in a scary speech that had the spectators–those present in the senate gallery and those watching on TV “live”--on the edge of their seats.

Santiago is fearless. A one of a kind warrior. When the 69-year-old daughter of La Paz, Iloilo City attacks an opponent, she is merciless and relentless. She always goes to war “bloodied but unbowed.” When she opens her mouth and begins her spiel, the firebrand senator produces a staccato and a parody that provides unlimited excitement and entertainment to her audience.

ADMIT

Her admission last July 2 that she had a stage 4 lung cancer devastated her fans. Fighting tears, the maverick lawmaker assured the nation she could survive if given the proper medication.

"I have cancer of the left lung, which makes it difficult for me to breathe. I think you have noticed that for the past years, I've always had difficulty. I've always had shortness of breath," Santiago told a news conference.

It’s risky to speculate on the real condition Santiago is in today. Stage 4 is an alarming state. What we can do for now is to pray that she can overcome the deadly disease.

God forbid, we might lose her to a lung cancer – at least not to a brain-related disease, which her critics had been trying to maliciously insinuate since time immemorial.