The Panlilio farce

ON MONDAY, defeated gubernatorial candidate Eddie T. Panlilio was bannered in the local papers.
The Central Luzon Daily headlined Panlilio: Pineda voters ‘bought’ with the bullet …including his relatives in Minalin.
Read that story in part: “Outgoing Gov. Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio claimed that the almost half a million (488,521) Kapampangans -- including his relatives -- who cast their votes in favor of Governor-elect Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda were “paid.”
Meanwhile, the 242,367 people who favored his candidacy were “reformed citizens.”
Panlilio said that he felt “a little pain” in his heart because even his close kin in his hometown fell prey to alleged vote buyers.
“Pati ring kamag-anak ku, mesali lang tia P1,500 per head and P4,000 per bubong (Even my close kin were sold (sic), P1,500 per head and P4,000 per household),” he alleged.
This paper on the other hand headlined Panlilio to withdraw request for priesthood dispensation with the kicker Already forwarded to Pope.
Read the lead paragraph: Outgoing Gov. Eddie Panlilio will withdraw his request to be dispensed from priesthood and expressed hope that Catholic Church authorities would fully restore his priestly powers.
Panlilio has been under suspension as priest since 2007, and before the May 10 elections, he submitted a letter to San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto seeking permanent dispensation from priesthood.
Aniceto said Panlilio’s letter was forwarded to Pope Benedict XVI for decision even before the last polls and that he expected the Vatican to decide on it within a year.
After denigrating the Kapampangan as vote-vendor, Panlilio now mocks the priesthood, treating it like a rag to be discarded when not needed, to be retrieved when needed, if only to wipe his hands off his (ir)responsibilities.
In 2007, Panlilio declared he “heeded the clamor of the laity to serve God’s people by running for public office.” He said his gubernatorial run was in pursuit of a “higher vocation.”
Which, in effect, (ir)rationalized his breaking his priestly vow of obedience with his refusal to heed the pleadings – five times – of his superior, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto for him not to run. Yeah, Peter denied Christ only three times. Panlilio denied his superior five times.
That disobedience merited the suspension – punitive rather than preventive in nature – of Panlilio’s priestly functions. So is there any worldly vocation higher than the priesthood, loftier than being an alter Christus?
That was but the first of a series of disobedience Panlilio committed. Not to mention his “unpriestly” conduct while governor – from banishing the image of the Virgin from the Office of the Governor to replacing the First Friday Mass with Born-Again services at the Capitol lobby, from attending a service of the Iglesia ni Cristo to his regular pray-over by Born-Again pastors.
The good Apu Ceto would himself confirm Panlilio promising him that he would only stay for a single term as governor and would train a layman to succeed him. Promises broken with Panlilio’s initial dalliance in presidential fancy and subsequent run for re-election.
When Panlilio proclaimed that God told him to run for the presidency, and he had no other recourse but to obey Him, Apu Ceto promptly called him to a meeting with auxiliary Bishops Roberto Mallari and Pablo Virgilio David.
Even after the bishops advised him to get into a period of discernment, Panlilio, with the proper pimping by his favorite national daily, pursued his personal ambition with more out-of-town sorties, in a test of the political waters, so to speak.
With the groundswell of support for the Noynoy-for-president movement, Panlilio said – not so much as a whisper from God – that he was subjugating his presidential ambition to Noynoy’s. Which is in effect a disobedience of God Himself. So Panlilio said God told him to run. No, he never said God asked him to withdraw.
Panlilio neither here nor there, talks of dispensation crop up thereafter.
So it was written here then: San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David says: “As far as we are concerned, he has yet to inform us of his intention to be readmitted to the priesthood.” And the Church is not pressuring Panlilio to return. Neither will the issue of dispensation be forced upon him.
Furthered the foremost intellectual of the Church in Pampanga: “Among Ed can either decide to seek readmission to be able to perform his priestly duties or seek dispensation. It all depends on him now, but he cannot seek an extension of his suspension since it was only agreed that he would be suspended from performing his priestly functions for only one term.”
Yeah, as Among Ambo once said, Panlilio could not have his cake and eat it too. Sooner than later, he’s got to choose between the priesthood and politics.
And Panlilio made a clear choice: submitting to local church authorities his letter of request for dispensation and running for governor again.
Sometime in April, the eminent Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz sent me a letter – modesty be damned now – thanking me for the “much appreciated copies of your wonderful book Reverend Governor.”
Apung Oscar furthered: “More than being much informative, it is also very instructional for Priests who suffer from delusional thoughts about their persons and politics.”
And the clincher: “Three copies thereof are being sent to Rome for the proper handling of the Panlilio Case.”
Attached to the letter is the prelate’s Priest-Politician that he called a “little publication written on the occasion of the sad phenomenon.”
The dispensation procedures are rolling. Now this change of heart in Panlilio. Come to think of it, if Panlilio won, would he have sought to withdraw his request for dispensation?
“He told the media he’s returning to his ministry if his bishops would permit him, but he already wrote a letter addressed to me which I have already sent to the Holy Father." So was Apu Ceto quoted in an article posted Monday night on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site.
Furthered the story: Aniceto said Vatican is expected to grant the priest-turned- politician’s petition.
Aniceto said it would be hard for Panlilio to be a parish priest again because he has caused division not only among the faithful and but also among the clergy. He added that some people didn't like Panlilio's statements and brand of leadership.
He described Panlilio’s latest statement of his desire to return to the priesthood as a “politician’s statement."
Asked to describe the outgoing governor, Aniceto said he finds him “someone who would not listen" and would not hold on to his vow to serve Pampanga for one term.
Panlilio being priest-turned-politician-wanting-to-turn-priest-again is what Apung Oscar once called “a big anomaly in the Church and a dilemma, if not a scandal for many lay people.”
“The insinuation (of such a character) is that the priest can be anybody or anything as long as he pleases, until such time when he finds it convenient, helpful or secure to minister as a priest again,” he wrote.
Yeah, the priesthood nothing than a trapo, literally and figuratively there.
“Bring down the curtain, the farce is played out.” Famous last words, apropos our time, from the French humanist Francois Rabelais.
So I write now of the Panlilio (non)phenomenon, as I wrote in the defunct Pampanga News April 19-25, 2007 issue.

Flawed forecast

A MONKEY I made of myself with some of the forecasts of “sure winners” I came out with on Monday, Election Day, here.
Yeah, I had a diet of crow with my predictions in six towns.
Lyndon Cunanan I wrote was it in Magalang. He got as far as third and last with incumbent Romy Pecson getting his undisputed re-election.
Josefina Leoncio upset Nardo Velasco in Sasmuan by a margin of 365 votes.
Ron Dungca lost to Jomar Hizon in Bacolor.
Peter Flores got re-elected in Masantol with Jay Bustos crying “massive cheating.”
Nobody really got wronged in San Simon with Leonor Wong way over the predicted Baby Dalisay who ranked third.
The Flores dynasty I wrote about in Minalin cut abruptly by once loser Katoy Naguit.
Still I would say though that I made good with my forecast overall.
I wrote “landslide for Nanay.” So a landslide it was for Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda.
The congressional contests are a ho-hum, I predicted. Ho-hum indeed they were: Cong Tarzan Lazatin, Cong Dong Gonzales and now-Cong GMA all trouncing their rivals by over 100,000 votes; Cong Anna York Bondoc-Sagum’s 2007 margin of 82,000 votes over Rene Maglanque halved to some 40,000 this time around. Still a landslide there.
City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez may not have won by a looong mile as I forecast, but neither by a nose was his victory over Tiger Lagman with his margin of over 15,000 votes.
Combine all the votes of his rivals, Boking Morales with his 35,080 votes would still emerge triumphant in Mabalacat.
True enough, a proclamation, not an election, Mayor Eddie Guerrero waited for in Floridablanca.
As written here, so it was: a banya for Sta. Rita Mayor Yolly Pineda
From oblivion came the other candidates for the Guagua mayorship, returned to oblivion they did with Mayor Ric Rivera re-elected.
As it was in Sta. Ana – Mayor Omeng Concepcion a shoo-in, so it was too in Arayat – Mayor Chito Espino reprising his victory in 2007.
In Candaba, Mayor Jerry Pelayo reduced his opponents to what we farm boys used to warble; “Ando baco, buntuc paro.”
Again, as predicted: In Apalit, it’s balik-munisipyo for Mayor Jun Tetangco.
Yes, the Flores grip in Macabebe continues with Annie Flores-Balgan taking over from big brother Bobong.
Yes, Mayor Lito Naguit is still it – by a landslide – in my hometown of Sto. Tomas.
Yes, it’s Carling de la Cruz in Porac, as I bravely ventured.
Surprise, surprise, a most pleasant surprise. An even match I said of the Angeles City mayoralty contest, tilted to Ed Pamintuan’s favor with the Iglesia ni Cristo votes. Was I happily wrong! Mayor Blueboy Nepomuceno turned black and blue by EdPam’s margin of 26,179 votes.
Correct in predicting the outcome of the governorship, in the four congressional districts, in the two cities and in 14 towns. Wrong in six. That makes a batting average of 77 percent. Really good with political forecasting.
Maybe I am in the wrong racket. I may just do better with crystal balls and tarot cards inside a carnival tent.

Avalanche, indeed

Landslide for Nanay. So I wrote here on May 3, a week before the vote, of an exchange of analyses with Ashley Manabat who held that there was no way for Capitol tenant Eddie Panlilio to win the governorship.
Come to think of it now, even the days augured well for Panlilio’s rival: May 9 celebrated as Mother’s Day could only run through May 10 as Araw ni Nanay.
So Ashley posited that the loss of Panlilio’s so-called confidence team and supporters, notably Madame Lolita Hizon, his maladministration of the province, and above all, one Atty. Vivian Dabu, contributed to the dissatisfaction of the Kapampangan, and therefore would spell doom for the recounted-out governor.
A greater doom awaited him on the ground with the towns that served as Gov. Mark Lapid’s vanguard in 2007 going all out this time for Comelec-declared Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda.
So landslide, indeed, was the outcome of the 2010 gubernatorial race with Pineda getting 458,604 votes against Panlilio’s 227,158 per the count I got from GMA-7 news.com.
A margin of 231,446 votes – 4,288 more than his total – there. Yeah, it will take more than a backhoe to dig Panlilio out of that mountain of votes that buried him.
Repudiation. Utter repudiation of Panlilio by the Kapampangan is the only way one can explain so bad a beating, so thorough a mauling, so savage a mangling a sitting, if recounted-out, governor could ever get at the polls.
Panlilio won only in one town – so sadly in my own – Sto. Tomas, by the slim margin of some 300 votes, going by the unofficial, and early, count I got. In the absence of the Comelec official tally, all the figures I proffer here are unofficial and only partial, approximating but a little over 60 percent of the vote as of 2 in the morning of May 11. (As I write this, Pineda has yet to be proclaimed by the provincial board of canvassers as winner of the 2010 gubernatorial contest.)
Panlilio’s own hometown of Minalin disowned him, giving Pineda 11,086 votes to his 7,711. Yeah, no prophet is honored in his own country. Most especially a false one, quipped Pastor Macky, he of the Pangan clan.
Contrast that to Lubao’s going all-out for its favorite Baby with 48,602 votes, ceding to Panlilio 4,365 or less than 10 percent of the former’s.
As predicted, the Lapid 2007 bailiwicks proved to be Pineda’s bastions this time.
Mabalacat’s fiery fervor for Pineda translated to 35,874 votes, thoroughly consuming Panlilio’s 18,231.
In Floridablanca, 26,045 voters went Pineda while 8,634 stuck with Panlilio.
No watered down votes in Arayat this time with 25,639 counted for Pineda and 10,356 for Panlilio.
In Mexico, 22,667 voted for Pineda while 13,784 voted for Panlilio.
Apalit made good Mayor Jun Tetangco’s promise of a convincing Pineda win, with 22,762 votes to Panlilio’s 11,325.
The Floreses proved anew their dogged loyalty to whomever they take as their leader: Macabebe giving Pineda 16,008 votes and allowing Panlilio only 4,615; Masantol in turn with 15,172 for Pineda and 5,351 for Panlilio.
In the Lapid heartland of Porac, Pineda garnered 25,180 votes to Panlilio’s 12,365.
In 2007, the City of San Fernando gave Panlilio his widest margin against Pineda. The support of Mayor Oscar Rodriguez notwithstanding, the city electorate abandoned Panlilio this time, with Pineda getting 38,186 votes to his 32,559.
And what is to be expected of Macapagal, nay, Pineda, country that is the second district but pure woes for Panlilio.
Guagua went 18,365 votes for Pineda, and 11,329 for Panlilio, mayhaps much of it coming from his purported power base of Betis.
In Sta. Rita, 10,476 voted for Pineda, 5,867 for Panlilio.
Sasmuan gave Pineda 12,480, Panlilio squeaking by with 1,937.
The remaining towns of Pampanga tells the same story – of Panlilio managing but half of Pineda’s sum.
The tally sheets: Magalang,18,039 for Pineda, 9,659 for Panlilio. Bacolor, 19,179 for Pineda, 10,079 for Panlilio. Sta. Ana, 12,228 for Pineda, 6,356 for Panlilio. Candaba, 20,276 for Pineda, 10,685 for Panlilio. San Luis, 17,586 for Pineda, 7,558 for Panlilio. San Simon, 13,931 for Pineda, 7,426 for Panlilio.
Again, may I remind the reader that the figures for the towns are vintage 2 a.m. of May 11, partial and unofficial, the Comelec having yet to make public the official, complete results.
Anyways, they are factual. The principle of res ipsa loquitur applies here. The numbers speak for themselves. An avalanche of votes buried Panlilio to kingdom come, politically that is. Clearly, a revolt of the Kapampangan there.
What repudiation is worse than this?

Sure winners

A LANDSLIDE victory for Comelec en banc-affirmed Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda. So I wrote here last week.
By no means is Pampanga’s favorite Baby the only avalanching winner in 2010. So shall I discard my long-time practice of shying away from making fearless forecasts of election outcomes and this time will go out on a limb, will stick my neck out and predict, if not prophesy, the winners. This on the very day the electorate troop to the polls.
The congressional contests are a ho-hum, stirring the least excitement with all re-electionists, Cong. Tarzan Lazatin in the first district, Cong, Dong Gonzales in the third, and Cong.woman Dr. Anna York Bondoc-Sagum, expected to pork-barrel their way to the House anew. So should we still talk of GMA’s chances at winning the second district?
In the City of San Fernando, it’s Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez by a long, loong, looong mile. Only a collective idiocy of the voters would make a close fight out of a no-contest battle. And the Fernandino electorate are never known to be anywhere near moronic, intelligent voting being part of their political lore.
In Mabalacat, Mayor Marino Morales, who else? Boking ain’t sitting mayor continuously for the last 15 years for nothing, the three-term limit notwithstanding. And he will just be on his first re-election this year! Top that!
No election but a proclamation is all that Mayor Eddie Guerrero is waiting for in Floridablanca. He’s just simply unbeatable.
The non-citizenship issue that stripped him of the mayorship – on paper, but failed to physically unseat him falling by the wayside, Sasmuan’s Nardo Velasco is victor anew.
In Sta. Rita, Mayor Yolly Pineda is all set for a banya. And it’s not all because of her mom-in-law. The lady mayor has charisma all her own, in both the spiritual and political application of the word. Go ask the Rev. Fr. Eugene Reyes, the town parish priest.
In Guagua, we know of no candidate other than the re-electing Mayor Ric Rivera.
No prediction applied in Lubao, the only candidate there being a Pineda daughter. Ditto in Mexico, Mayor Teddy Tumang running solo.
In Sta. Ana, Mayor Omeng Concepcion is a shoo-in, his opponent in the political radar hardly registering.
It’s Mayor Chito Espino in Arayat, the current contest but a reprise of 2007’s, down to the principal protagonists.
With a bird-brained antagonist, no way, simply no way for Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo to taste defeat.
In Apalit, it’s balik-munisipyo for Mayor Jun Tetangco.
The Flores’ grip of Macabebe won’t be relaxed a bit with Mayor Bobong’s sis, Annie Flores-Balgan taking over him.
In my hometown of Sto. Tomas, after taking all the hit, Mayor Lito Naguit will still be it.
Sure winners all are the above. Safe bets there. Now, for the more exciting parts where close fights are expected, where predictions could go neither here nor there.
An even match between Mayor Blueboy Nepomuceno and comebacking Ed Pamintuan was tilted to the latter’s favor with the Iglesia ni Cristo vote. Yeah, I would agree with this paper’s banner: EdPam is poised to take over city hall.
In Magalang, the break-up of 2007 partners Mayor Romy Pecson and Vice Mayor Norman Lacson may well seat anew the once unseated Lyndon Cunanan.
In Porac, I would bravely venture Carling de la Cruz winning over incumbent Roger Santos, a Lapid for vice mayor there notwithstanding.
While it’s everybody’s game in Bacolor – all four candidates equally able, the “Buddy factor” stacks up the odds for the greenhorn Ron Dungca.
In Masantol, Mayor Peter Flores may well be ambushed – with votes, not bullets, this time – by one Jay Bustos.
In San Simon, residents rubbed the W(r)ong way, are putting their bets on one Baby Dalisay.
A Flores, the incumbent’s brother continues a dynastic rule in Minalin.
To San Luis, I have not been in a looong time too. So I plead utter ignorance of the town’s mayoral who’s who.
Anyways, by tomorrow we shall know whether I made good with this forecast or I made myself a fool. That is, of course, if the elections pushed through.

CDC sleeps on the job, so what else is new?

“NATUTULOG SA pansitan.” This time, not simply napping but snoring in the noodle house is the Clark Development Corp.
Bannered here last Wednesday was: CDC won’t pay PNCC,
firm for Sacobia Bridge with the sub-head Defies orders from Office of the President, OGCC.
First, the facts of the case for background, as laid down in the Punto story:
On Feb. 14, 1997, the PNCC (Philippine National Construction Corp.) and the CDC entered into a memorandum of agreement and later on a supplemental agreement dated Feb. 28, 1997 for the pre-design, design and construction of a 910-meter, 3-lane bridge called the Sacobia Bridge with the maximum contract price of P700 million “subject to price adjustments on the variation orders/bills of quantities ‘following the applicable provisions of PD 1594 and its implementing rules and regulations as amended.”
On Aug. 8, 1997, the PNCC engaged the services of Ciriaco as its sub-contractor for the project. Ciriaco was one of the pre-qualified contractors that CDC endorsed to PNCC
The PNCC prescribed a period of completion 360 calendar days from the “notice to proceed” dated July 5, 1997.
CDC reportedly requested Ciriaco to provide an interim financing of P250 million to jumpstart the project to give the stet firm the time for find a funding source.
The PNCC and Ciriaco alleged in their petition that despite the difficult time in finding interim financing for the project as its start coincided with the devaluation spurred by the Asian financial crisis, it did so with the assurance that the CDC board was “fully cognizant of the Asian currency crisis, (and) is amenable to an adjustment of the Sacobia Bridge Project contract price.”
The completed project was turned over to the CDC on June 10, 1998, well within its projected date of completion.
All of 12 years since the turnover of the bridge to the CDC, the constructors have yet to be fully paid. A petition therefore was filed with the Office of Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) which formed an arbitration panel to resolve the issue of payment.
Documents gathered by Punto showed that both the OGCC and the very Office of the President (OP) with the affirmation of the Department of Justice have ordered the CDC to pay the PNCC and Ciriaco “the judgment award in the decision dated 18 Dec. 2008” which covered: P1,739,526.79, representing the unpaid Progress Billing No. 8; P15,953,264.90, representing the unpaid Final Billing; P153,011,677.60, representing the foreign currency price adjustment; and legal interest on the afore-mentioned amounts at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the time of the filing of this petition or from Nov. 7, 2006, until finality of the judgment and 12 percent thereafter until full satisfaction.”
Instead of heeding the order of the OGCC and the OP, the CDC on Feb. 3, 2010 filed a “petition for review on certiorari before the Court of Appeals docketed as CA-GR SP No. 112732.
The height of insolence there, the CDC thrusting an in-your-face finger on the President herself! Ain’t the CDC technically under the OP?
An April 7, 2010 decision of the OGCC Arbitration Panel however noted that: “There being no restraining order issued by the Honorable Court of Appeals in the Petition for Review on Certiorari entitled “Clark Development Corp. vs. Philippine National Construction Corp. joined by Ciriaco Corp,”…with respondent itself not even praying for the issuance thereof, the execution of the subject Decision is in order.”
Lousy lawyering there, our favorite solicitor Attorney Dimaunahan noted. “Nag-certiorari na nga, hindi pa humingi ng TRO.” Thus, the “legality” and the executory nature of the order stayed.
The headlines of the story may have given the reader a picture of an insolent CDC. But the truth of the matter is more of a CDC rendered clueless by sleeping on its job now glossing over its faults by a display of defiance.
Consider the premises that served the bases for the arbitration panel’s favorable decision to the petition: the CDC “failed to present its evidence during the hearings set on 20 August 2008, 3 September 2008 and 20 October 2008…”
“CDC’s counsel even failed to appear or send representative during those hearings…In an order dated 3 September 2008, the Arbitration Panel granted for the last time CDC’s motion for the resetting of the case, with a warning that in the event it failed to present its evidence on the next scheduled hearing (on 20 Oct. 2008), respondent’s right to present evidence shall be considered waived and the case shall be deemed submitted for decision based on the pleadings submitted by the parties…Notwithstanding the peremptory warning from this Panel, respondent CDC’s counsel still failed to file the affidavit of its witnesses and to appear on the October 2008 setting,”
Soundly asleep in the noodle house – perhaps over platefuls of luglug and guisado, the CDC lost track of time and place, losing to PNCC and Ciriaco by default.
Yeah, the chow mein loving Rip Van Winkle lives, er, sleeps, in the CDC.
Hoy gising! Mahiya naman kayo!

Grounded

WHAT WAS promised as a lasting legacy of the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency has been delivered as a monumental failure.
The Terminal 2 project at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, projected to be finished by the time President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo steps down on June 30, 2010has yet to find a winning bidder.
What has been hailed as one fulfillment by the dutiful daughter of the caduang apag (second serving) promise to the Kapampangan of the Macapagal father has proved half-cooked.
The Terminal 1 project at the DMIA projected to be inaugurated by the President on her last birthday as President – April 5, 2010 – is only 60 percent complete, way past her deadline of completion that was after 90 calendar days from its commencement on December 15, 2009.
So what gives with these monumental failures to launch the DMIA to world class status?
In the case of T-2, the all-or-nothing fixity of the Clark International Airport Corp. Chairman Nestor Mangio on the Kuwaiti firm Al-Mal/Kharafi not only to develop the new terminal but take the whole civil aviation complex so bogged down all other bidding considerations resulting to a two-year stalemate. That ended finally with the President herself ordering the Kuwaiti firm be stricken off the list of T-2 prospects.
And for Mangio’s obstinate insistence on the Kuwaiti proposal – despite the opposition of the Office of Government Corporate Counsel and the CIAC Board for its apparent betrayal of national sovereignty – has apparently paid off with its past-midnight appointment as chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development. But that is another controversy.
On the Terminal 1 expansion project, no less than one of the sub-contractors has termed it as “an example of a successful failure.”
As in T-2, a problem of contractors obtain with T-1, AG Araja for the latter.
“There are proofs showing that the CIAC makes on-time payments to AG Araja. But it does not do its share with the sub-contractors.” So was the sub-contractor quoted by this paper’s Joey Pavia in his story Monday.
It was this failure of T-1’s principal contractor to pay the sub-contractors that caused the project to lag way past its targeted date of completion.
Another sub-contractor I talked to deplored AG Araja’s “total indifference – walang malasakit – to the Kapampangans, be it with the terminal or with the sub-contractors.”
An observation affirmed by the other sub-contractor thus: “Why did CIAC have to give it to a contractor from Laguna when there is an extravagance of equally if not more competent contractors in Pampanga…A Kapampangan contractor would make sure of completing the project on time, knowing that it is a legacy of the Kapampangan president for her people. His pride and honor would ensure that work will be best, if not fast...King caduang apag na la mu talaga ding Kapampangan (Are the people from Pampanga just good for second serving?)”
As in T-2, so in T-1: the very stewards of CIAC at odds with one another in their perception of how things should work.
Mangio is said to have wanted the contract with AG Araja terminated in the wake of its failure to complete the T-1 project on time and go about its completion “by administration.”
CIAC President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano reportedly favoring an extension for AG Araja until such time T-1 is completed, thereby earning the ire of the sub-contractors who promptly labeled him “coddler.”
In the meanwhile, the DMIA is fast becoming what the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement chair, Ruperto Cruz, called it to be: Dead Macapagal International Airport.
Yeah, the flagship project of the President at half-mast signifying its death, as the sub-contractor witticised.

Landslide for Nanay

I HAVE said it once and I say it again: There is no way for Eddie Panlilio to win the governorship of Pampanga.
That was Ashley Manabat, astute political analyst when freed from his editing chores which has become oftener now with the untimely mothballing of Luzon Urban Beltway BANNER.
Yes, I remember Ashley declaring over Infomax TV – way before the filing of certificates of candidacy of the local bets – the impossibility of a Panlilio victory on May 10.
Ashley’s exegeses were founded on what he called the general dissatisfaction of the Kapampangan over Panlilio, arising from: 1) his failure to launch programs and projects truly beneficial to the constituency, most especially the poor; 2) the mirage that was the quarry collection – from P1 million a day to less than half which in turn gave rise to speculations of new scams; 3) the overlordship of still-putative (?) provincial administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu at the Capitol,
Other factors Ashley cited were: 1) Panlilio’s loss of his “confidence team” of Archie Reyes, Tess Briones, Atty. Aiza Velez, and 10 others; 2) the transformation of his once rabid supporters to ardent detractors, notably businessman Rene Romero and his group and Madame Lolita Hizon and her congregation; 3) the “rebellion” of the real heroes in that once spectacular rise in quarry collections – the quarrymen of Balas (Biyaya a Luluguran at Sisikapan).
So, how could Panlilio possibly win with all those minuses in the public perception of his character, his non-performance as well as in his support group? Ashley would ask.
The realities on the political ground are even more telling on Panlilio, so Ashley holds.
Mayors of towns won handily in 2007 by subsequent loser Gov. Mark Lapid are now uniformly gung-ho on Nanay Baby Pineda.
In Arayat, Chito Espino need not move the mountain for Nanay, the mountain has gone to her, so to speak, with the outpouring of support by the local electorate.
In Mexico, unopposed Teddy Tumang can make Nanay virtually unopposed too. Get the drift there?
In Apalit, Jun Tetangco with but a token, nay, a doped palooka of an opponent, promises no less than 85 percent of the vote for Nanay. And when and where Jun promises, he always delivers.
In Floridablanca, Eddie Guerrero has the zeal of a new convert, to the Nanay cause that is. Why, even his opponent Darwin Manalansan is campaigning for Nanay too.
The Tres Flores – Macabebe’s Bobong, Masantol’s Peter and Minalin’s Edgar – all able quarterbacks of the 2007 Lapid campaign are now all surging spearheads of the Nanay juggernaut.
And in Boking Morales’ Mabalacat, the burning desire of the electorate for a Nanay at the Capitol found spontaneous combustion everywhere she went, be it on motorcades or in rallies, around town or in the resettlement sites.
No burning ballots this time around then?
Forget the past, it is the present that matters now.
Go to the rest of Pampanga and Panlilio finds nothing but grief.
So he has Vice Mayor Norman Lacson in Magalang but Nanay has Lyndon Cunanan and Romy Pecson.
In Porac, he is totally shut out with the contenders Mayor Roger Santos, Vice Mayor Jing Capil and Carling de la Cruz all for Nanay.
Sta. Rita with Yolly Pineda and Lubao with her husband Dennis are family fiefdoms; Sasmuan with Nardo Velasco and Guagua with Ric Rivera, Pineda vassals.
All four of Bacolor’s mayoralty bets – Ron Dungca, Vice Mayor Diman Datu, Jomar Hizon, and Engr. Dinan Labung – carry the Nanay standards.
Even Mayor Oscar Rodriguez of the City of San Fernando is said to have been advised by well-meaning friends that his affiliation with Panlilio is putting fuel to Tiger’s sputtering tank. It has been observed that the Magsilbi Tamu Team is now doing the rounds minus him, Panlilio that is, not Oca.
Sta. Ana’s Omeng Concepcion’s heart belongs to Nanay too.
Outspoken for GMA as loquacious for Nanay is Candaba’s Jerry Pelayo.
Quiet Jay Sagum of San Luis may be more concerned with his wife Anna York’s fight with surging Rene Maglanque, but the leaders there are Nanay’s.
San Simon’s two ladies – Ms. Wrong, er, Wong and Ms. Dalisay share heart and mind with Pampanga’s foremost lady now, the latter even the same Baby moniker.
Whichever way one goes in Sto. Tomas – Mayor Lito Naguit or Reggie Mallari – one comes ever nearer to Nanay.
Yes, Ashley’s empirical data there find affirmation in the results of a Pulse Asia survey conducted in the 3rd district but can very easily serve as a microcosm of the whole province.
For Panlilio, 26 percent of the respondents trusted him while 42 percent did not, and 4 percent did not know him. That is a net rating of minus-16 percent.
For Nanay, 49 percent trusted her while 17 percent did not and 3 percent did not know her. That is a net rating of plus-32 percent.
Simple arithmetic shows there Nanay with a net margin of 48 percent over Panlilio. Which very easily translates to a 74-26 share of the electorate.
There’s your Nanay landslide on May 10.
Yeah, can’t help but agree with Ashley: There’s no way for Panlilio to win.

Binaboy na pulitika

MULA SA Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement, isang panawagan:
TAMA NA! SOBRA NA! WAKASAN NA!
END 20 YEARS OF SUFFERING FROM STINKING ODOR, FLIES, DISEASES.
Sa loob ng mahigit 20 taon, ang nakasusulasok na amoy at nakakapandiring mga langaw ay naging bahagi na ng pang-araw-araw na pamumuhay nating mga mamamayan ng Barangays Sta. Cruz, Sinura at Manibaug-Paralaya sa Porac, sampu ng mga taga-Barangay Cutcut, Angeles City.
Nakakasukang kabulukan na kumakapit hindi lamang sa ating mga damit sa sampayan kundi pati na rin sa ating mga katawan. Ga-higanteng mga langaw, bangaw na ngang maituturing, na dala-dala’y kung anu-anong sakit at karamdaman. Lahat nagmumula sa mga piggery at poultry farms na hindi lamang nakapaligid kundi mismong nasa busal ng ating mga pamayanan.
Sa pagdaan ng mga taon ay hindi tayo nagkulang sa pakiusap, sa pagsusumamo sa ating mga nanunungkulan upang kahit paano’y maibsan man lamang ang dinadanas nating paghihirap at muli nating masamyo ang sariwang hangin sa ating kapaligiran.
Nguni’t pawang katahimikan, kundi man direktahang pagtanggi sa problemang ating dinadanas, ang naging kasagutan sa atin ng ating mga local na opisyal – mula mayor hanggang sa mga kagawad ng sanggunian, pati na rin yaong mga nasa barangay.
Tila baga’y manhid na ang kanilang pang-amoy – o dili kaya’y mga ilong nila’y natakpan ng bungkos ng tig-lilibo’t limangdaan – upang di man lamang mawari ang bigat ng problemang kinasuutan ng ating mga pamayanan.
Ang mga special children sa Holy Trinity School for special children sa Barangay Sinura ay ina-asthma, ginagalis at palagiang nakakaranas ng pagkahilo’t paninikip ng dibdib, pananakit ng tiyan dulot ng bulok na amoy na nanggagaling sa mga babuyan. Pati pagdarasal at pagmumuni-muni ng mga madreng sa kanila’y nag-aaruga ay apektado na rin ng nakakasukang amoy na bumabalot sa kanilang paaralan.
Ang mga madre rin ang minsa’y nag-ulat sa media sa dami ng kaso ng miscarriage o pagkakunan, at mga insidente ng birth defects sa kanilang lugar.
Ang pagtaas ng mga kaso ng asthma, respiratory ailments, gastro-intestinal diseases at skin diseases ay nailuat na rin sa Sta. Cruz, Manibaug, at Cutcut.
Hindi biro-biro ang problemang ating hinaharap. Hindi haka-haka, kundi isang di matatatwang katotohanan na ang bulok na amoy at mga langaw na nanggagaling sa mga piggery at poultry farms ay salot sa kalusugan ng mga mamamayan.
Sa isang pag-aaral sa mga piggeries sa bayan ng Majayjay, Laguna, natuklasan na: “Animal wastes are carriers of diseases (Delgado, et al., 1999). Some of the components of pig waste that have direct adverse effects on human health are pathogens, nitrates, and hydrogen sulfide.
“Pathogens can contaminate water and cause gastrointestinal diseases, among other ailments. These microorganisms are 10 to 100 times more concentrated in hog waste than in human waste, which is diluted with water in sewage treatment plants.”
Sa ibang pag-aaral, ang pathogens, nitrates at hydrogen sulfide ay nakita na ring nakakaapekto sa pagbubuntis at sa tinatawag na blue baby syndrome o ang pagkamatay ng sanggol pagkasilang pa lamang.
Sa harap ng mga ganitong kalagim-lagim na panganib na nakaamba sa mga mamamayan, ni ha! ni ho! ay di man lamang narinig sa ating mga halal na opisyal.
Sa kabilang banda, ang mga baboy at manok, sa simpleng sipon lamang ay kaagad nang pinababakunahan ng ating mga opisyal.
Ito ang patunay na HIGIT ANG PAGMAMAHAL NG ATING MGA OPISYALES SA MGA BABOY AT MANOK KAYSA ATING MGA MAMAMAYAN. Ito ay tuwirang pagtalikod sa kanilang sinumpaang tungkulin. Ito ay direktahang pagtataksil sa bayan.
Panahon na ng paghuhusga! Magkaisa!
Nasa ating mga kamay ang kalunasan ng ating mga karaingan, ang solusyon sa matagal nang nagpapahirap sa ating mga mamamayan.
Sa Mayo 10 --
BULOK NA LOCAL OFFICIALS IBABA SA PUWESTO!
PROTEKTOR NG MGA BABUYAN AT MANUKAN, HUWAG IBOTO!