Political Sideline Slants 2 – by Oscar Contreras, Jr.

Posted on | April 16, 2010 | 1 Comment

1. The dust refuses to settle down on the poor boy from Tondo. Even the candidate in green blouse with a decimal point always preceding her rating has joined the saber rattling frenzy to cut down the  man who once swam in garbage. This time, she has swung up the ante to billions!  First it was the man who still swears to the high heavens that he had an immaculately clean record of governance during his shortived term who came out with a supposed bribe offer provided he retires his (Orange or red jersey?) from the presidential race.  Not to be outdone, the glib saviour from Subic came next and in his  usual Formula 4 way of talking, outdid the speed of Mike Enriquez when he announced he was also offered a fabulous amount. One wonders if there is a programmed schedule of themes to make sure the man who rose from penury finally goes down with a slew of Nigerian razor-sharp machetes. After the spate of alleged real estate scams which apparently did little to weaken his ratings, it is now bribing time. Alas, the charges have fallen short of expectations because all candidates have not revealed the names of emissaries supposedly sent to offer what now amounts to a grand and hefty sum a usually frugal Carlos Slim (the world’s richest man)  would think twice about.Time for the poor boy to stuff the money into where the mouths are.

2. Of course, the vice-presidential race has refused to be outdone by the flavor of the month poured on the poor boy. This time, it was the turn from the grand dame who could be be a heartbeat away from the presidency if she and her now pummelled black and blue partner win the plum prize to claim that the grease offer first came from the ex-future hertowith Presidential candidate who slid down and chose to be a spare tire instead. Unwittingly, this candidate with her highly flawed charge has unconsciously helped the public perception that its make believe time in these elections. Her running mate should thank her for blunting the effects of this recent Kickappo concoction—-but at her expense. The margin between her and the spare tire from Capiz is a bit big and with her latest faux pas,could make the lead abysmal.

3. With the loquacious sister of the leading candidate joining his sorties, the fear of a homestretch down-the-wire finish has now become a reality. Of course, the famous sibling has a penchant for a type of naivete that makes her apologize afterwards for her ill-timed malaprops. She has made pronouncements about earning her keep abroad if her brother wins, leaving the hubby shooting the hoops locally, unless he earns a ticket to the NBA or the European leagues.In the meantime, the leading candidate has now to contend with the ghosts of Luisita  refusing to leave him. This time, after the so-called Mendiola massacre charge, a rather serious text message from nowhere has emerged. Purportedly, the candidate has earned quite a reputation for being quickly hot under the collar and ostensibly started firing his gun, prompting the bodyguard to mistook that move as his license to hit for bullseyes instead of spooking out the farmer protagonists. As a result, an Aglipayan priest who was part of the picketing reportedly fell in the the latest shooting of April 2005. The message has asked that the PCIJ could contact a co-priest now hiding in a safehouse and who witnessed the whole incident. Apparently this priest is now willing to say that the Head of Security then was the same man who started the shooting , was subsequently fired from his job by the family and now aspires for the highest position of the land.. People who have received this message now entertain doubts about the candidate’s readiness to keep his cool under the stress of the presidency.  In the interest of fairness, the candidate might wish to clear up this otherwise nasty issue, coming at the heels of charges still unanswered about the  supposed SCTEX deal .

4. Like it or not, when one puts his hat into the political arena, he or she has to be ready to have his/her guts pulled out by the media and the public. Even the preppy looking Administration candidate who puts forth a well-deserved image of having quick and smart replies  even to knotty questions, has been a favorite of email messages that replay his now rather infamous reply to a question about what are needed when the whole of Manila was literally drowning under Ondoy’s wrath. His reply which came forth far and in-between was a curt ” I don’t know because we are still assessing the situation.” It was apparent, though that since the water had reached rooftop levels, amphibious vehicles, speedboats, life-saving devices, etc. were quickly needed to respond to an obvious emergency situation. Likewise, as top honcho of the emergency and disaster team of the government, people expected that he could have been more on top of the situation—unlike the “transformer” team that went into action right away. It goes without saying that this team which sorties around town campaigning with Star Wars props and all also have their own ghosts to contend with.  The fast talking presidential contender has to shed off his “Amboy” image while the political will admirably shown by his running mate is faced with wild rumors of iron fences and street curbs in Metro Manila streets  as having been done by his own construction firm.

5. Now back to the poor boy who made good and who is pictured with a war chest full of goodies and booties ready to drown his contenders into supine submission. The man could just be publicity shy but his more often than not, his non-appearance in important public fora has earned him a reputation for offering lame excuses to explain his either flat denials of invites or a last-minute proferring of regrets. His rather evasive figure has raised some doubts if indeed the reported modus operandi in a series of alleged land-grabbing deals have a grain of truth in them—rightly or wrongly. It only takes a well-researched and objective investigative report to more throughly uncover the alleged dark side of the Empire of the brown taipan to burst his balloon, There are enough leads to follow up and if these are realities, the nation ought to know.

6. Just as were finishing up this 2nd in a series, a book entitled Greed and Betrayal—The Sequel to the 1986 EDSA Revolution fell on my lap from an anonymous source . Already emptied in the shelves of the boostores, the book was authored by no less than Mr. Cecilio Arillo, the author of the famous book Breakaway on the EDSA Revolution, which became a bestseller. Invariably, bureau chiefs, editors of daily broadheets, and other famed journalists have shared positive comments about the book, blunting his widely known close friendship with the senatorial candidate who staged his own ambush  as a prologue to the declaration of martial law. In brief, Arillo tries to uncover what have not been revealed about the aftermath of the People Power Revolution. It’s well -researched and is an eyeopener to those who wish to know more about the pitfalls and barriers of what happened on our way to failed Camelots now still consigned to the dustbin of painful memories.

In the meantime, the circus continues…….

Comments