Dong does it

THE picture says it all – an ecstatic Board Member Dong Gonzales, hands raised in triumph by Senator Lito Lapid and Governor Mark T. Lapid, with nearly half the provincial board – Tars Halili, Nelson Calara, Pinong Laus, JQ Quiambao and Pros Lagman – beaming their approval, plus vice gubernatorial wannabe Concon Laus and broadcaster Perry Pangan thumbing up the scene.
Duh, you’re a dummy if you still wonder who the Lakas-CMD official bet will be for the third congressional district. Again, the picture says it all. The Lapid imprimatur is indeed worth every penny of the million dollar smile on Dong’s face.
Given the closeness – okay, the rabid loyalty – of the Lapids to the President, it is safer than safe to assume now that Dong indeed has been conveyed the blessing of GMA.
With that all those nasty innuendoes and direct indictment of Dong as a Trojan horse of the opposition fall flat on their valueless faces. So who’s caught with his pants down?
Dong has apparently mastered the power of the photograph to counter the propaganda tack that he is anti-GMA. Barely a week or so before the photo of his first-hurrah-with-the-Lapids came out in this paper, another paper – Sun-Star Pampanga , I think – splashed on its front page a beaming Dong in a buddy-buddy pose with presidential son Congressman Mikey Macapagal Arroyo himself.
Commented a coffee-mate at Old Manila in SM Pampanga: “Mikaluguran la pala i Dong ampo i Mikey. E tutu itang sasabyan dang laban ya keng administrasyun i Dong.” (Dong and Mikey are friends. All those rumors that Dong is anti-administration are false.)
Quipped another: “Pamanyira mu kang Dong deng kalaban na ita. E de kasi agyu. Sobra ya yumu karing tau king tersera distritu.” (Dong’s rivals are scheming against him because they cannot beat him (in the polls). He is immensely popular in the third district.)
Whither thou goeth now, Dinan Piñon Labung?
After blazing a comeback trail with heaps of press releases, public consultations and streamers purporting support from just about every sector except the magmamani and the manikurista , there is nary a word heard of Dinan.
Why, he has even been dislodged as streamer king by Cong Ely ‘Tiger’ Lagman with his innovatively original – ha, ha, ha, ha – “I love 3rd District.”
The TL moniker – true love? true leadership? tulog lagi? -- is getting more buzz than Dinan Progreso at Labung ing Tersera Distrito whenever talks shift to politics in just about every gathering.
For Dinan to regain his toehold of just even a weenie part of the district, he has to review his strategies, as well as his strategists.
A fresh mindset is essential to Dinan and his team. That is if they want to go past their current publicly-perceived image as mere congressional pretender rather than a serious contender.
Even better, to pull the rug under Dong’s feet, all Dinan has to do is get a photo of himself with no less than GMA raising his hand.
A war of pictures then? No. A war of the Lapids and the Macapagals will be more likely.