Dynasties, duh!

NO TO Mag-INDA-Now.

Punning perfection from Pampanga’s moral minority provided the high definition, indeed, impacted the meanest meaning, to political dynasty in the province. Alas, it failed to catch the imagination, much less inflame the conviction of the electorate. Most miserably, at that.

Did I say minority? Minimality, more aptly, as suggested by their actual number, scoffed the suddenly semantically sensitive Ashley Manabat. But that makes yet another story. Anyways… 

The Pineda juggernaut an irresistible force. Panlilio’s spirited stand…well, all spirits, amounting to nothing but token resistance.

Not just mag-inda – mother Gov. Lilia G. Pineda and son vice governor-elect Dennis aka Delta winning by the widest margins, but really mi-inda-inda – daughter Mylyn and daughter-in-law Yolly also getting re-elected as mayors, unopposed – veritably for the former, virtually for the latter.

Mag-INDA-Now! A dynasty well-entrenched there. Appended insinuations of the Ampatuans notwithstanding, indeed, lost in the triumphant shouting. Across Central Luzon, reverberating.

Realpolitik now: Matriarchal in Pampanga becomes patriarchal in Bataan, conjugal in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, and fraternal in Tarlac.

All four Garcias won in Bataan: the father, incumbent Gov. Tet Garcia traded places with son, 2^nd District Rep. Albert Garcia; son Jose Enrique Garcia was re-elected Balanga City mayor, and daughter Gila Garcia won the Dinalupihan mayorship.

Laid by the wayside of the Garcia blitz are the Payumos – ex-SBMA chair Tong Payumo losing anew in the first district congressional run; his Harvard-educated son Tonito failing in his bid for the provincial board; his nephew, incumbent Dinalupihan Mayor Joel Payumo, losing in his gubernatorial quest; Joel’s brother, ex-Mayor Jose Payumo  III knocked out in his return bout for the mayorship.

In Bulacan, both husband Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado and wife 1^st District Rep. Marivic Alvarado ran – and won, but of course – unopposed.

Though opposed, Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali and wife 3^rd District Rep. Cherry D. Umali managed to bury their rivals in landslides.

The once powerful Josons shut out in the races for governor, vice-governor and the first congressional district, managing wins only in their bailiwick of Quezon town and in the provincial board and Cabanatuan City council.

No sibling rivalry but mutuality in competency leading to victory was the case in Tarlac. Gov. Victor Yap lived up to his name anew, in avalanche win over Cojuangco kin Isa Suntay and incumbent Vice Gov. Pearl Pacada.

A walk in the park for incumbent 2^nd District Rep. Susan Yap with 120,822 votes to erstwhile Public Works director Pepe Rigor’s 34,696.

No contest too for San Jose Mayor Jose Yap, Jr. over the substitute candidate for his murdered rival, Rudy Abella.

All is not lost though for the anti-dynasts, taking heart in the fall – and how! – of the House of Gordon and the Clan of Magsaysay in Olongapo City and Zambales.

Incumbent Olongapo Mayor James Gordon, Jr., lost in his bid for the first congressional district seat. His wife, former Vice Gov. Anne Mary Gordon failed to succeed him in an internecine battle with their nephew Bugsy de los Reyes – both  losing to Rolen Paulino. Brian Gordon, son of Dick, also lost in the vice mayoral contest.

Kin JC de los Reyes failed in his Senate bid. And with Dick himself finally excluded from the Magic 12, thorough becomes the Gordon debacle.  

Shut out of the Senate too were Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and niece-in-law Mitos Magsaysay. 

Mitos’ children Jobo and Vic-Vic shared her loss, failing in their respective bid for the first congressional district seat and the vice mayoralty post of Olongapo.

Back to Pampanga, all is not lost too for the moral minimality, with aspiring dynasties nipped in the bud this Monday past.

Come to think of it, voters in two towns took heed to calls of “No to Mag-INDA Now,” literally. In Bacolor, Mayor Jomar Hizon got his re-election but his mother Atching Lolet was frustrated in her vice mayoral aspiration. In Magalang, Koko Gonzales won a council seat even as his mother, LP official bet Elizabeth, came in third and last in the mayoral contest.    
No to mag-igpa too, apparently with the father, Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo failing to capitalize on his John Lloyd stock against comebacking Cong. Rimpy Bondoc for the fourth district congressional seat, and the son, Patrick losing in his own run to succeed him.

No conjugal rule in Sto. Tomas: the husband-and-wife tandem of former Mayor  Romy “Ninong” Ronquillo and incumbent Vice Mayor Gloria “Ninang” Ronquillo losing to history-making re-elected Mayor Lito Naguit – first three-termer ever, and running mate Mark Arceo.

It’s vote-one, take-out-one in Angeles City in the case of Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. winning a council seat while his senior, Cong Tarzan losing his mayoralty bid. Ditto Atty. Brian Matthew Nepomuceno landing Number 2 in the council while uncle Blueboy losing to Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao in his congressional comeback run.

Though both Pamintuan father – Mayor EdPam, and son – councilor Edu made a successful return. Same thing in Mabalacat City with Mayor Boking Morales re-elected for the umpteenth time, and his son Dwight, now neophyte alderman. Minus, daughter Marjorie Morales-Sambo who got beaten in the vice mayoralty race.     

Now, what does this add up to?

Utterly lacking in the requisite socio-economic, political, even anthropological  and psychological background for an exegeses of the issue at hand, I can only guess: It is not that voters love some families less, but that they are mesmerized by others more. Duh?  

Be careful with history

EDGARDO D. Pamintuan has earned the distinction of having bested the dynasties that ruled and reigned over Pampanga for so long, commencing in the immediate post-WWII period as a matter of record.

Last Monday, EdPam put an end to the political glory of Cong. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin that began in his congressional win in 1987 and all through three terms in the House, onto three terms at the Angeles City hall and another term in Congress. A formidable feat there, Tarzan’s winning streak. No mean feat, EdPam’s breaking it.

In 2010, EdPam made incumbent city Mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno blacker than blue, burying him in an avalanche of over 20,000 votes.

History written! Chorused EdPam’s myrmidons, beholding in their champion St. George slaying not one but two dragons.          

History re-written, more aptly.

The Lazatin and Nepomuceno dynasties – with the patriarchs themselves at the head – got their first beating in the local elections of 1988.

It was the last battle between Don Francisco G. Nepomuceno, incumbent city mayor, and Don Rafael Lazatin, member of the interim Batasang Pambansa dissolved in the aftermath of the 1986 EDSA Revolt.

Don Paquito had the distinction of unseating Apung Feleng as Pampanga governor at the close of the ‘50s.

It was Antonio “Bubusuk” Abad Santos – himself of the prominent clan that produced the martyr of WWII, the father of Philippine socialism, and a city mayor – that put a definitive end to all political aspirations of the aged lion Lazatin, and the outwitted fox Nepomuceno.

In 1988, the Nepomucenos were already a spent force, with Don Paquito losing the mayorship and his son Robin trounced in the gubernatorial race by Bren Z. Guiao. 

The Lazatins though still had Cong Tarzan, then just starting to develop his political muscles. 

The all-too-brief Abad Santos interregnum – all but one term – passed into the “triumph of the masa” in Pamintuan – yes, EdPam – in the election of 1992 and in his unprecedented – and still unmatched – victory in 1995, where a combination of the votes of all his five rivals still fell short of that he got.

It was to EdPam’s eternal chagrin that – against better political judgment – he resuscitated the Nepomuceno dynasty, taking in the then-apolitical Blueboy as running mate.

“Mete no ren. Oba’t bibiyayan mo pa. Datang ing panaun ila pa ren deng makamate keka (They are (politically) dead. Why are you reviving them? Time will come when they themselves will slay you (politically).” So did Tarzan warn EdPam then.

True enough, in 1998 Blueboy beat EdPam for the first congressional district seat. The favour the latter returned in the 2010 city mayoralty contest .

It was Tarzan’s turn to revive the beaten Blueboy with their tacit, if not outwardly tactical, alliance in the elections just past.

Santayana materializing here: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Someone re-phrasing it: “Those who learned from history are privileged to watch  those who did not repeating it.”        

Here lies the more historical sense of EdPam’s victory.

Bubusuk Abad Santos won against a Nepomuceno and a Lazatin engaged in a vicious war between them. EdPam won against a Nepomuceno and a Lazatin sharing a common front against him.   

So Tarzan lost. And Blueboy too. So that’s finis to their dynasties?

Not quite, to me.

There is city councilor Atty. Bryan Matthew Nepomuceno, Blueboy’s nephew, getting re-elected, a very strong Number 2.

There is Tarzan’s namesake, Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin II getting elected to the city council too, albeit at Number 9.

There’s the next generation of dynasts for you.

Yeah, a headline in our last issue says: “EdPam, Guiao shatter Lazatin, Nepo dynasties.” Shatter, yes. But it takes no time to pick up the pieces.   

As they say in merrie olde England, “The king is dead. Long live the king!”          

No foretelling

FEARFUL AND faithful, rather than fearless and forward were the forecasts the cerebral Jun Sula and visceral I made over Sonia Soto’s Boto Mo, Kinabukasan Mo show over CLTV-36 last Tuesday.

Time – so very precious in broadcast – constrained us to a snip-and-snap take on the candidates’ whys and wherefores of getting elected, sans some truly enlightening and deeply rationalizing arguments. Not that we failed. Au contraire, the tweets and texts Ms. Sonia received during and after the program bordered on the awesome, the public taking keen interest and active participation in the discussion.

It’s just that I felt I shortchanged the audience and thus needed to make some amends by expanding and expounding some more on the issues discussed.

Under siege. Truly, I will bend my knees before 3^rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales if – Mr. Sula would rather say when – he gets re-elected.

Cong Dong is in a camel-through-the-needle’s-eye dilemma, facing the most  formidable forces ever confluenced in Pampanga politics.

His rival, Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez by his lonesome is already an irresistible force to reckon with. His stature in local politics concretized in his multiple terms in Congress, monumentalized in his award-reaping performance as city mayor.

Then, there is the President himself as Oca’s quarterbacker. As though that were not enough, Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda took Oca’s cause as her own notwithstanding her being on the other side of the political divide.

The GMA factor likewise impacts against Cong Dong, his leaving her party at a most critical moment still rankles Kapampangan sensitivities.

Deemed the final nail to Cong Dong’s political coffin is the Iglesia ni Cristo vote going to Oca.

Against such forces, what candidate would dare stand, could ever even hope to win?

Only Cong Dong, the faithful forecaster Mr. Sula is confident: “He has the people. And that’s all that matters.”

Yeah, I will kneel before Cong Dong IF he wins.          

Odds evened. The candidate ridiculed as “Paciencia Paras Yabut” and relegated to an also-ran may – Mr. Sula is certain he will – have the last and loudest laugh in these elections.

Joseller “Yeng” Guiao, long languishing in all surveys, has levelled up with the  comebacking Cong. Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno.

Yeng has not evened up – Mr. Sula is cocksure – but has overtaken Blueboy, the INC vote going to the mercurial PBA coach most manifest of this.

With Nanay Baby on his bench, Mayors Ed Pamintuan of Angeles City, Boking Morales of Mabalacat and Romy Pecson in his starting line-up, Team Yeng will fare more favourably well in the first district tournament than his Rain and Shine did in the PBA’s Commissioner’s Cup. So Mr. Sula is convinced.

Now, if Yeng can shatter the storied parochialism – they vote their own – of the Angelenos, I will also be convinced.

Upset in the making. We were rather rash in consigning Candaba’s Jerry Pelayo to certain defeat, convinced of the invincibility of the Bondoc name – with all its resources, influence, stranglehold of the fourth district from father to son to daughter, and seemingly to son again.

Then, too is that news that the INC – as usual – goes Bondoc, again. So it was – to our mind – as usual in the district again: contenders from Candaba beaten black and blue by the champions from Macabebe.

Yeah, we failed to give due notice to the support John Lloyd – call him Panchito, says his rival Juan Pablo – is getting from the mayors of the district: San Simon’s Leonora Wong, Sto. Tomas’ Lito Naguit, Minalin’s Katoy Naguit, Apalit’s Jun Tetangco and Macabebe’s Annette Balgan-Flores. The last two notably, being unopposed in their own re-election bids.

If the mayors make good their pledge to campaign wholeheartedly for Pelayo there will be less reasons for him not to beat Rimpy.

And then as we write this, sources “in the know” say the INC decision has just been overturned in favour of Pelayo. Now, the fight is in Rimpy’s hand.

Jungle juggernaut.  Congressman Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin is a sure win in the Angeles City mayoral contest, history being on his side. So Mr. Sula declared.

No mayor of the city – in its recent and remote history – has ever been elected without the INC vote. Tarzan has the INC in his pocket, so he wins.

As though that were not enough, there is too Tarzan’s double doctorate in politics, earned with his “carpet bombing” thesis and his end-game mastery.

I was – still am – fearfully cautious to make any forecast in the city. I’d rather put it under a close study. Eager to see the efficacy of Alexander Cauguiran’s Partido Abe Kapampangan with its bruited-about over 43,000 card-carrying members whipped up to EdPam frenzy for over a year now.

Just how Abe Ka will stand up to the jungle juggernaut can make a grand piece of local history, and may even devolve INC invincibility in the city to mythology.                             

Mad about dynasts

THE VISION: To put a definitive end to political dynasties through Republic Act 6735 or the People’s Initiative and Referendum Act.

The Mission: To generate 5.2 million signatures to force the issue, to put that vision into realization. 

Thus, in February, civil society groups launched the Movement Against Dynasties (MAD).

How fared MAD so far?

It has already gathered some 510,000 signatures from various parts of the country. So reported Lito Ong, MAD-Pampanga chairman.

That is less than 10 percent of the target. That comes down to an average of 170,000 signatures per month in the three months MAD existed. At that pace, it would be way into the half of 2015 to get to the 5.2 million goal.

With all the media noise attendant to the MAD’s launching, with the stirring demagoguery on the evils of political dynasties – the Ampatuan Massacre their most brutal manifestation – it is a wonder why only 510,000 have so far heeded the clarion call of MAD.

That wonder turns to disbelief vis-a-vis the realities of the Binays, Estradas, Enriles, Angaras, Cayetanos, indeed, the Aquinos on the national stage and the long-standing local fiefdoms of the Ortegas of La Union, the Dys of Isabela, the Villafuertes of Camarines Sur, the Garcias, Osmenas and Duranos of Cebu, the Dutertes of Davao, the Singsons of Ilocos Norte, indeed the Marcoses and Romualdezes of Ilocos and Leyte.

On home grounds now, Pampanga politics has always been dynastic too – the Lazatins and the Nepomucenos of an ancien regime  that has remained extant, and the New Order of the Bondocs, the Lapids, indeed, the Pinedas being the most formidable.

The coming mid-term elections make the best stage for MAD to act out its morality play and win more adherents.

But as it is turning out, it is the dynasts that lord it over again – Allan Peter Cayetano, Nancy Binay, Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito Estrada, and Jack Enrile consistently in the Magic 12 for the Senate.

In Pampanga, already conceded to win – even before the campaign period started – are the Pinedas – Nanay Baby the governor, son Delta for vice-governor, daughter Mayor Mylyn unopposed in Lubao, daughter-in-law Mayor Yolly with but a token opposition in Sta. Rita; and the Nepomucenos – comebacking Congressman Blueboy and re-electing councilor Bryan.

A tall order, if not a mission impossible for MAD to put an end to the dynasties.

Admirable is Ong’s optimism in saying: “this can be done in the next two to three years with the help of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)."  This as he noted that many bishops "are very aggressive" in supporting MAD's provincial sorties. 
Indeed the CBCP has come out with some pastoral statement denouncing the rule of the few powerful political clans in the country, and vowing to back legislation against political dynasties which it said “breed corruption and inhibit general access to political power, which is a fundamental mark of democracy.”
The way I’ve come to understand it, the fundamental mark of democracy is “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Rather than argue with the CBCP, I would rather that the argument of reality speaks for itself: Dynasties live and die on the support of the people, maybe out of fear but primarily out of favour.

But no matter, the people, yes. As in vox populi, vox Dei.

No matter too the rightness of Alcuin, an English scholar and theologian of the 8th century, thus: “And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness.”         

Meanwhile, in the news yesterday…

The petition for disqualification as candidate against vice gubernatorial wannabe Dennis “Delta” Pineda, among other respondents, for alleged “clear cases of political dynasties” has been dismissed.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division said they lacked the power to enforce a provision against political dynasties as there are no enabling laws for the purpose.

“We laud the Petitioners in their relentless effort to give life to the state policy against political dynasties. However, this commission is without power to enforce the provision against political dynasties without any enabling law,” Presiding Commissioner Elias R. Yusoph said in his nine-page decision…

Mad as only MAD can be. 

That ain't Oca

PALACE TO pour in billions if Oca wins congressman

Passable is the infirmity of the syntax of Headline Gitnang Luzon’s banner Wednesday. But not the severity of its impact.

Electoral victory as some sine qua non pre-conditionality appended to the outflow of Malacanang’s largesse is elemental patronage politics. That which is supposed to be the very bête noire of this government priding itself to have been morally grounded on the straight and narrow path, aye, the daang matuwid.

So, what gives?  

The story goes:

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – President Aquino will pour in billions of pesos for infrastructure projects in Pampanga’s Third District provided Mayor Oscar Rodriguez wins as congressman of the district.

This was according to Rodriguez himself who recently spoke to Headline Gitnang Luzon. The three-term mayor is running for House representative of the district.

Rodriguez said Aquino will not release the funds “if the boy with a four-lettered name will win.” He fell short of describing the person but his rival for the post is Third District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., whose nickname is “Dong.”

“Buking na siya (He is known already),” said Rodriguez.

He said Aquino “needs someone he trusts in Pampanga that’s why I had to run.”

Rodriguez said the funds will be used primarily to improve the P3.4 billion Cong Dadong Dam in Arayat town. It was designed to irrigate 10,270 hectares of farms in seven eastern towns, most of which are part of the Third District...

There, Oca took the line of his Liberal Party co-member, former Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio, invoking exclusive presidential trust, and therefore exclusive channeling of development funds.

Of course, we all know that sans PNoy’s “trust” in Gov. Lilia “”Nanay Baby” Pineda, the province of Pampanga has not been wanting in national government attention and assistance – from infrastructure to health to social services, not the least of which were the some 50,000 PhilHealth cards issued to the Kapampangan poor.

Still, Oca is now saying in effect, “No Oca in Congress, no money from the national government.”   

I see the voters being subjected to blackmail – emotionally, intellectually – there.

I cannot believe that statement could ever come from Oca. He, who has always  been known to have the highest respect for the intellect of the voters of the third district whom he embodied in the House for four terms. With the highest distinction, if I dare say.

I feel the voters being harassed – psychologically – there.

I cannot believe any and all things attributed to Oca in the story. He, who has always been on the side of the right in the defense of victims of political harassment and violations of human rights. To the point of endangering his own life. 

I cannot fathom how Oca could ever descend to bullying and bamboozling the electorate to get the vote.

Unimpeachable were his accomplishments as congressman, apexing in his prosecutorial brilliance in the impeachment trial of President Estrada.

Etched in granite, so to speak, are his achievements as mayor – the 4^th best in the  World Mayor Prize, the 2012 presidential Lingkod Bayan awardee, the designated role model for local chief executives, the very avatar of good governance.

On his own, by his outstanding public servanthood, Oca can very well be judged most fit, most deserving of any elective position he will ever aspire for.

On principle is Oca solidly grounded. As he did in fighting the dictatorship.

On principle, Oca may fall. As he did in being a prisoner of conscience in the darkest days of martial rule, as he did in sticking out with the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino in 1992 to the point of losing his congressional seat. 

On principle, Oca rises. Again, and again.

This much I know of Oca, having been privileged, indeed, honoured, to have authored his proto-bio.

That Headline Gitnang Luzon story is a reduction of Oca to absurdity.

That isn’t Oca. That cannot be Oca.

Or, was I so much awed by the myth that I failed to see the man?

Selling the vote

AN HONEST politician is one who, when bought, will stay bought.

Substitute “voter” for politician, and still holds that truism attributed to the American financier and politician Simon Cameron (1799-1889) who served a short year as Lincoln’s Secretary of War, deposed for corruption.

A caveat emptor though is necessary here: What is the warranty given the buyer that whom he/she bought stayed “honest” all the way to the poll precinct?

This becomes all too problematic given the exhortations of moralists: Kunin ang pera, sundin ang konsiyensiya! and Kunin ang pera, iboto ang kursunada!

To get their money’s worth, what politicians and their strategists did in the business of vote-buying in manual elections past was to provide carbon paper – along with half of the pay – to the payee which he/she was required to sandwich between the ballot and a piece of paper. That paper was to be presented to the “coordinator” of the payer for the other half of the agreed-upon price for the vote.    

Technology upgraded voting with the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. So was the carbon paper upgraded to the cell phone. The payee now required to take a photo of his accomplished ballot with his mobile to prove that he/she did his/her part of the bargain.

Pre-election buying of votes has even less guarantees of “honest” returns. If a voter can sell his/her vote to one candidate, what prevents him/her to sell it to the rival candidate? As there are double deals in government contracts for so-called SOPs, so there are double sale of votes.

Indeed long and loud are the lamentations of losing candidates over the waste of so much money on voters who just (re)sold out to the higher bidder. 

Wise to the ways of “dishonest” voters, a local candidate in the 2010 elections was reported to have corralled the voters that were purchased 30 hours before the elections, providing them with food and accommodations as well as bags of goodies, thereby preventing them from being bought back by the rival.

Before the precincts opened, the quartered voters were herded like sheep to their respected polling places.

Thus, the dictum: Secure, hide what you have purchased, lest they be stolen from you.

In the current campaign, vote-buying is said to have taken a different turn. Voters are now asked, in exchange for cash, not anymore to vote for a certain candidate but not to vote at all.

A candidate knows the bailiwicks of his/her opponent. It is there that money is widely spent on the rival’s supporters for them not to bother voting anymore. Just to be sure that their money is spent wisely and the bought voter stayed honest, indelible ink shall be put on his/her forefinger on election day.

In one town, it is said that the going rate for the no-voter at this early is already P1,500.

That’s quite a sum compared to the paltry P300 per vote bandied about in the city. Which reminds me of the now lamented, dearly departed Tirso G. Lacanilao, three term mayor of Apalit.

Campaigning for his second and last re-election, Lacanilao lambasted – on stage – voters who commodified their ballots thus: Mababa ko pa uri kesa karing babi. King P300 pisali yu pati kaladuwa yu. Ing babi halaga ne man libu-libo. (You have lesser value than pigs. For P300 you sold your very souls. The pig costs thousands of pesos at least).”

Shame before swine. Awfully shameless.

A consolation for those who don’t buy, who can’t buy, who won’t buy votes: One can only buy so much.

In a tight contest though, that so much can be more than enough to make the difference. Yeah, there’s a bargain sale out there.