Possible bedfellows: Roxas-Clinton, Duterte-Trump, Poe or Binay-Clinton

"Perfect partners don't exist. Perfect conditions exist for a limited time in which partnerships express themselves best."  
Wayne Rooney

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- There should be no more false hopes for supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders as the number of Democratic open primaries is getting smaller, with Sec. Hillary Clinton must now win only 33 percent of remaining delegates to hit the 2,383 magic number as of April 6.
In order to oust Clinton, Sanders must win 67 percent of the remaining delegates. 
Clinton now has 1,728 against Sanders' 1,058 (this is the latest count even after Sanders clobbered Clinton in Wisconsin, 57 percent-43 percent).
With the next primary heading to New York (April 19), Clinton's home state, the prospect has become dimmer for Sanders.
Assuming that Clinton clinches the Democratic presidential slot, pollsters have predicted she could put away either Donald Trump (753 delegates) or Ted Cruz (514) of Republican party in the November general election.

SUPPORT

With full support from President Noynoy Aquino, Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party could pull the rug from under PDP Laban's Rodrigo Duterte, Nationalist People's Coalition's Grace Poe, and United Nationalist Alliance's Jejomar Binay.
Because of health problems, Miriam Defensor-Santiago has fallen by the wayside and isn't anymore expected to put up a good fight with barely five weeks to go.
Assuming that Roxas will win on May 9, 2016 and Clinton becomes president after the November 8, 2016 general election, they can work together harmoniously as both the Liberal and Democratic parties almost share the same political ideology and philosophy.
Although LP distances itself from the political extremes on the left and right, it can tune in with the Democrat's modern liberalism.

LANDSCAPE

If Duterte will make it and Trump will upset Clinton, the political landscape will change drastically as both gentlemen are known tough guys determined to wield iron hands to govern their nations.
Duterte has vowed to wipe out criminal elements and feed them to the fishes in the Manila Bay, while Trump has promised to build a wall to prevent Hispanic illegals from crossing the US-Mexico border; round up and yank out overstaying aliens.
Duterte's PDP Laban democratic centrist socialism
and consultative and participative democracy principles will have to sit well with Trump's Republican American conservatism.

SMOOTH

Poe's NPC can work smoothly with the Republican as it is also a conservative party.
Since it is in the right wing, Binay's UNA can engage in a romance with both the Democrat and Republican parties as it also embraces the ideology of conservatism, Filipino nationalism, social conservatism, and populism.
This means that a Binay victory in the Philippines and a Clinton or Trump victory in the United States can't be a case of a round hole in a square peg.

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.

Binay should get out while ahead

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead." Chanakya

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- If ever we will amend the Philippine constitution, we must ask our constitutional convention delegates to include provisions in the electoral process that any candidate who will resort to name-calling and character assassination during the campaign period should be disqualified.
Let's admit it. Some of the candidates in the 2016 elections lack the moral scruples to hold a public office.
Our electoral system has become a kaleidoscope of moral and spiritual bankruptcy; aspirants for public office are a hodgepodge of Sancho Panzas and Emperors Nero and Claudius.
We understand that there is a gnawing concern about the wanton abuse by some wackos to ridicule our electoral process by filing their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for certain higher national positions not to win (and even without the capacity to wage a decent campaign) but only to land in the front-page and to get media attention.

CLOWNS

We understand the frustration of those who detest seeing the names of mediocre personalities and popular clowns in the Comelec list of official candidates but are forced to belabor themselves browsing over the names of rightful candidates on the same list only because the constitution allows even escapees from mental institutions to run for president. Que horror!
Under our squalid and abnormal system, popular movie comedians and athletes, coup plotters, ex-convicts, rapists and children of celebrities can run for higher positions even if they didn't finish high school.
Thus under the Peter Principle, quality legislation becomes the number one casualty if these cretins are elected in the Senate and House of Representatives. 

-o0o-

Vice President Jejomar Binay should quit while he is still on top, some political wisecracks suggest.
We might ask why would anyone leading in a presidential campaign drop out? 
Because he can't win. And Binay hates defeat.
Rumor has it that there's a woman in Calinog, Iloilo named "Brenda" who hasn't heard of Binay. 
But besides her, everyone in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao knows who Binay is.
Binay's popularity in the last quarter of 2014 can be compared to Erap Estrada's name-recall strength in 1998.  

RECOGNITION

The former Mabini lawyer (who started his political career after the 1986 EDSA Revolution) has virtually 100 percent name recognition, and still he can't manage to break beyond the 25 percent to 30 percent or so of disaffected members of the hoi polloi supporting him. 
And, as manifested in the most recent surveys, many of those supporters are beginning to drift.
Either they went to Sen. Grace Poe or to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
In short, Binay hit his apex weeks ago. 
It's only a slide from here.
The Sandiganbayan ruling that ousted his suspended Makati mayor son, Junjun, could be the last straw in Binay's Cinderella-like candidacy that is now on spaghetti legs.

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.

-o0o-

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 ‘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.

Iloilo mayors for Roxas; councilors for Binay

“When people show loyalty to you, you take care of those who are with you. It's how it goes with everything. If you have a small circle of friends, and one of those friends doesn't stay loyal to you, they don't stay your friend for very long.” John Cena

By Alex P. Vidal

LOYALTY to the party over a personal choice.

This must be the stand adopted by most city and municipal mayors in Iloilo who are supposedly backing the presidential bid of DILG chief Mar Roxas in 2016.

Most of these mayors attributed their victory in the last local elections to the ruling Liberal Party (LP), thus they can’t just discard Roxas, who is President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III's personal choice.

Even if some of them dislike Roxas’ temerity to show off in “epal” gimmickry, these local chief executives have to toe the line or else.

In the 2013 elections, LP’s machinery was too much for those identified with former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose bets from national down to the municipal levels suffered unprecedented massacre.

Because of their victories as LP-anointed bets, these city and municipal mayors owe LP and the President a debt of gratitude.

BEHOLDEN

Because they are beholden to Malacanang, they have no choice but to publicly endorse Roxas.

But many of these city and municipal mayors have developed a personal friendship with Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay Sr., opposition’s strongest bet for the top post in Malacanang.

Binay has been patiently paying them a visit one after another, but don’t talk about politics so as not to send panic alarms to the eyes and ears of Malacanang.

Binay, however, is very popular among city and municipal councilors.

Some members of the Iloilo provincial board are also pro-Binay but don’t display their preference at this early in respect to Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.

Many Iloilo City councilors are also all-out for Binay but remain loyal to Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and, of course, to President Aquino.

Mabilog does not interfere with the choice of his allies in the city council, but assures President Aquino of his “unwavering” support and loyalty.

Mabilog is democratic when it comes to individual political stand of his city council allies.

As long as they support the programs and projects of President Aquino in the metropolis, Mabilog doesn’t give a hoot about the political preference of city councilors for national office.

AGREE

The city councilors and Mabilog, however, agree on one unwritten but golden political rule: spare President Aquino and Senate President Franklin Drilon of any unfavorable harangue.

In fact, Joshua Alim, one of the most senior members of the city council, has become Binay’s virtual campaign manager and spokesman in this part of the country.

Alim has been passionately defending Binay in media interviews and even called the ongoing Senate investigation on Binay’s alleged anomalies in Makati city hall as “political persecution and harassment from the elite who wanted to topple down the vice president.”

Alim also does not hide his impatience when he sees negative comments on Facebook against the vice president and makes it a point to defend Binay by hook or by crook.

When Roxas visited Iloilo most recently, some of the streamers Alim’s group put up in various intersections supporting and endorsing Binay disappeared one after another.

Alim cried foul and accused Binay’s detractors to be behind the “sabotage.”

Many village chiefs have also signified their support for the diminutive second highest position of the land despite the almost daily bombshells being unloaded against him on national and local media.

It’s still a long way to go in as far as wooing the support of grass roots leadership is concerned.

The ballgame is still open, fluid and unpredictable.

Many sips-sips (sycophants) in the local level are still expected to jump ship and betray their partymates.

This early no one can claim he has the majority of local leaders in the bag.

Binay’s Capiz friend at loggerheads vs city hall

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” George Washington

By Alex P. Vidal

IS it unsafe to do business or run for public office in Roxas City or in Capiz Province if one is associated or identified with the country’s most controversial politician, Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay Jr.?

Or is it a scourge for any Capiznon to be a friend of Binay?

Roxas City and Capiz Province are known bailiwicks of DILG boss Mar Roxas, who was bundled out by Binay in the previous vice presidential contest.

It appears the two political behemoths are heading for a rematch in 2016, this time for the presidency of the land.

Thus Roxas and his subalterns probably become increasingly jealous politically each time Binay, otherwise known as “Rambotete” (a calumny for the diminutive former Makati mayor who carried an Uzi machine gun ala “Ramboo” with a protruding tummy at the height of coup d'etat during the administration of the late President Cory Aquino), is seen hobnobbing with Capiz businessmen and political leaders.

ELECTIONS

With the national elections fast approaching, Binay’s Capiz friends, even in the business sector, are starting to feel the heat.

We missed by the skin of the teeth the press conference called by businessman Joaquin ”Toto” Dumagpi at the Kapis Mansions last September 25 in Roxas City, Capiz.

We were with visiting Chicago-based balikbayan couple Rufino and Aurea Canong, retired Army Maj. Lyel Tugbang and wife Baby, and Roberto “Bob” De la Cruz.

The Canong husband and wife are friends of

Dumagpi, president and chief executive officer of the Roxas City-based Kapis Development Corp. (KDC), from way back in the 90’s in the United States.

Dumagpi was protesting the apparent “delaying tactics” employed by the City Hall’s licensing division in the processing of Kapis Mansions’ business permit.

PERMIT

The businessman lamented that his establishment’s business permit has not been released since they first applied for renewal in January this year.

The delay has incurred Kapis Mansions millions of pesos in losses as the hotel was supposed to host the national convention of the Department of Health (DOH).

Without a business permit, the hotel cannot make a transaction with government agencies like the DOH.

Dumagpi said Carmen Andrade, city government consultant on economic affairs, wanted them to “add 15 percent” to their 2013 gross sales.

Dumagpi insisted his papers were in order and complete.

After a meeting with Dumagpi’s representative last Oct. 3, Andrade gave Kapis Mansions one week to fully declare its income or pay the city government in lieu of audit.

Dumagpi suspected that the pressure his establishment has been enduring from the city government could have something to do with his ties with Binay.

GUEST

He admitted that Binay has been a regular guest at Kapis Mansions. This must have inconvenienced some characters allied with Secretary Roxas, he surmised.

Incidentally, Binay has a not-so-pleasant relationship with Roxas City Mayor Alan Celino.

There was already a bad blood between the two even before Sec. Roxas became Binay’s political adversary.

During the presidential campaign in 2004, then Vice Mayor Celino had a violent verbal spat with Binay, who was campaigning for the late Fernando Poe Jr. against Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Binay protested the alleged shabby treatment Celino gave Susan Roces when she campaigned for FPJ in Roxas City.

Binay and Celino called each other names on national TV and their feud worsened when Celino challenged Binay to a fistfight after Binay allegedly called Celino “amo” (ape).

Was Dumagpi caught in the middle of all these political hullabaloos?  

We tolerate corrupt leaders

“Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep.” Ray Davies

By Alex P. Vidal

No Ilonggo politician has been jailed for graft and corruption.

But many politicians from Western Visayas have pending cases in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Some of them have already retired or still active in public service, while others have already died.

There has been no conviction in the P125-million Pavia Housing scam in Pavia, Iloilo committed by prominent characters in Iloilo city government more than 10 years ago, but some of the accused are already dead if not retired.

Most of those facing graft charges normally belong to the opposition and their cases are the ones being expedited if the administration considers them as threats in the next elections.

While cases against the opposition are prioritized and tackled like a speed of light, cases filed against politicians allied with the administration gather cobwebs and may never even be remembered until the changing of the guards in the Office of the Ombudsman, when the next president takes over the helm of the Malacanang.  

BELIEVE

That’s why we don’t believe that Senate President Franklin Drilon of Molo, Iloilo City will be jailed for graft and corruption.

We don’t believe that the graft cases filed against him by his former Twitter account handler, Manuel “Boy M” Mejorada for the alleged overpricing of Iloilo Esplanade, etecetera; and former TESDA chief Augusto “Buboy” Syjuco for alleged overpricing of the Iloilo Hall of Justice, etcetera will ever reach first base.

Drilon is one of the most powerful personalities in the administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III today; the most influential honco in the kingdom of the Liberal Party.

As the third highest official of the country, Drilon enjoys the protection of no less than the President and his cabal who are also die-hard LP stalwarts.

He is even one of their rumored candidates for vice president in the 2016 elections.

The Office of the Ombudsman, as a quasi-judicial body, can never claim independence from Malacanang if it allows itself to be used as a tool by the Malacanang to persecute those identified with the opposition, but is lenient to those identified with the administration.

TOLERATE

The Philippines is probably one of the countries in Asia, if not the world, that tolerates and even elects into office corrupt politicians.

Even if many of the rumored aspirants for the highest positions in the country are tainted in the imbroglio related to misuse of pork barrel funds and other graft and corruption scandals, Filipinos are still willing to give them mandates in 2016.

Even if the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will establish the guilt of the Binays in the multi-billion Makati parking space scandal, Vice President Jejomar Binay will remain as the leading aspirant for the presidency of the country two years from now.

Binay is extremely popular in Western Visayas, including in Capiz, the bailiwick of DILG Secretary Mar Roxas.

So many politicians in Iloilo, Negros, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Guimaras have shifted allegiance to Binay. And their numbers are growing by leaps and bounds.

DIMINISH

For these local politicians, graft and corruption issue will never diminish the vice president’s chances in 2016.

We continue to tolerate and elect into office even the worst politicians. That’s why we deteriorate as a nation. Corruption eats up the very foundation of our socio-economic and political spheres.

The practical difficulty surrounding the effort to get rid of corruption is enormous. It comes from all sides. The biggest is the obstacles arising from a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy, warned Syed Hussein Alatas, in his book, “Corruption and the Destiny of Asia.”

Any effort to correct injustice and reduce the suffering of the victims should be attempted however limited its success may be. The experience itself is valuable and revealing, explained Alatas.

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.