The temptation of Oscar Rodriguez
NO DEVILS but men of the cloth – albeit one in a state of suspended functionality – and pillars of moral uprightness in the community are the tempters of Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez.
The Rev. Fr. Resty Lumanlan, SVD, was first: “Mayor Oca is the true meaning of leadership...a transformative mayor that will make wonders for Pampanga as governor.”
Always with his lips where his heart is, the good father, executive director of the multi-sectoral governance council (MSGC) that helped the City of San Fernando reached the institutionalized – and highest – stage of the highly acclaimed public governance system, made the endorsement on February 5 this year at the multi-sectoral assembly in the city.
Among Resty deviated from his assigned talk on the MSGC, and, “inspired by the Holy Spirit” as he called it, did not merely endorse but anointed Mayor Oca governor.
“Let go City of San Fernando, Mayor Oca to Pampanga.” So was Among Resty’s clarion call for the mayor, and his constituents.
Businessman Rene Romero immediately followed suit, taking along with him a clear majority if not all of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry: “Mayor Oca should have been a governor long time ago...He will be even be more effective (than as mayor) because being governor is easier.” In what terms, magnate Rene did not have to say. It was all there for all to see: the brilliance of governance in the city vis-a-vis the abject maladministration of the province, for one.
Not too far behind – all of two days after the Lumanlan anointment – Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio expressed his wish for Mayor Oca to seek the governorship.
Well, not so much for the good of the province as for his own good – Panlilio that is: "Yes, definitely. I wish Mayor Oca runs (for governor) so that I will have a light heart to go back to the priestly ministry."
Of course, that was before God called Panlilio to run for the presidency. And before – with but 0.4 percent in the survey of presidentiables – Panlilio made the supreme sacrifice of giving way to Sen. Noynoy Aquino.( No, Panlilio did not say if God called him to give up his presidential fancy.)
For the record – lest Panlilio makes a denial again – his endorsement of Mayor Oca was made at the sidelines of the induction ceremony of the members of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Pampanga Chapter where the mayor was also present.
Panlilio even promised – in a media interview at the event – that he “would go to lengths of endorsing Mayor Oca to his supporters.”
My caution on citing incidentals here is due to an endorsement Panlilio made late last year of Rodriguez which – two weeks after publication – he vehemently denied.
The temptations for Mayor Oca to partake of the not-so-forbidden fruit of the governorship for a time dissipated, but only to re-emerge much stronger in the wake of the Noynoy Aquino phenomenon.
No less than Aquino’s own innermost circle proffered the governorship for the mayor’s own taking.
Yet another temptation comes Mayor Oca’s way today – Oct. 15 – when civic groups and former supporters of Panlilio gather at the Heroes Hall to launch the “Mayor Oca Para King Pampanga” Movement.
Today’s activity is a culmination of frenzied texting these past few weeks all around Pampanga with but a single message: Convince mayor Oca to run for governor.
“There is a fear that the scenario in the 2007 elections would be repeated. Right now, our group is looking for a candidate to field,” a former Panlilio supporter was quoted as saying. He meant the twin evils of quarry plunder and jueteng contending for the governorship, hence the need for a moral alternative.
Mayor Oca – he said – has become a “consensus choice” as their candidate for governor, disappointed as they are with the lackluster leadership of Panlilio.
As Panlilio has become a heavy baggage too “difficult to carry to victory” in the 2010 race, so they turned their sight on the “much better and more politically mature Oscar Rodriguez.”
Temptations. Gloriously enticing. Will Mayor Oca yield?
Who was it who said the greatest way to banish temptations is to yield to them?
The Rev. Fr. Resty Lumanlan, SVD, was first: “Mayor Oca is the true meaning of leadership...a transformative mayor that will make wonders for Pampanga as governor.”
Always with his lips where his heart is, the good father, executive director of the multi-sectoral governance council (MSGC) that helped the City of San Fernando reached the institutionalized – and highest – stage of the highly acclaimed public governance system, made the endorsement on February 5 this year at the multi-sectoral assembly in the city.
Among Resty deviated from his assigned talk on the MSGC, and, “inspired by the Holy Spirit” as he called it, did not merely endorse but anointed Mayor Oca governor.
“Let go City of San Fernando, Mayor Oca to Pampanga.” So was Among Resty’s clarion call for the mayor, and his constituents.
Businessman Rene Romero immediately followed suit, taking along with him a clear majority if not all of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry: “Mayor Oca should have been a governor long time ago...He will be even be more effective (than as mayor) because being governor is easier.” In what terms, magnate Rene did not have to say. It was all there for all to see: the brilliance of governance in the city vis-a-vis the abject maladministration of the province, for one.
Not too far behind – all of two days after the Lumanlan anointment – Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio expressed his wish for Mayor Oca to seek the governorship.
Well, not so much for the good of the province as for his own good – Panlilio that is: "Yes, definitely. I wish Mayor Oca runs (for governor) so that I will have a light heart to go back to the priestly ministry."
Of course, that was before God called Panlilio to run for the presidency. And before – with but 0.4 percent in the survey of presidentiables – Panlilio made the supreme sacrifice of giving way to Sen. Noynoy Aquino.( No, Panlilio did not say if God called him to give up his presidential fancy.)
For the record – lest Panlilio makes a denial again – his endorsement of Mayor Oca was made at the sidelines of the induction ceremony of the members of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Pampanga Chapter where the mayor was also present.
Panlilio even promised – in a media interview at the event – that he “would go to lengths of endorsing Mayor Oca to his supporters.”
My caution on citing incidentals here is due to an endorsement Panlilio made late last year of Rodriguez which – two weeks after publication – he vehemently denied.
The temptations for Mayor Oca to partake of the not-so-forbidden fruit of the governorship for a time dissipated, but only to re-emerge much stronger in the wake of the Noynoy Aquino phenomenon.
No less than Aquino’s own innermost circle proffered the governorship for the mayor’s own taking.
Yet another temptation comes Mayor Oca’s way today – Oct. 15 – when civic groups and former supporters of Panlilio gather at the Heroes Hall to launch the “Mayor Oca Para King Pampanga” Movement.
Today’s activity is a culmination of frenzied texting these past few weeks all around Pampanga with but a single message: Convince mayor Oca to run for governor.
“There is a fear that the scenario in the 2007 elections would be repeated. Right now, our group is looking for a candidate to field,” a former Panlilio supporter was quoted as saying. He meant the twin evils of quarry plunder and jueteng contending for the governorship, hence the need for a moral alternative.
Mayor Oca – he said – has become a “consensus choice” as their candidate for governor, disappointed as they are with the lackluster leadership of Panlilio.
As Panlilio has become a heavy baggage too “difficult to carry to victory” in the 2010 race, so they turned their sight on the “much better and more politically mature Oscar Rodriguez.”
Temptations. Gloriously enticing. Will Mayor Oca yield?
Who was it who said the greatest way to banish temptations is to yield to them?
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 8:41 PM
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