8 July 2009
COMMENTARY
by Perry Diaz
Rumors have been floating around that Sen. Manny Villar and Vice President Noli De Castro have agreed to become running mates in the 2010 presidential election under the Nacionalista Party. Villar will be the presidential candidate and De Castro, his veep. If that’s true, it would be a “marriage of convenience” — a powerful union of two well-respected politicians.
Why would De Castro not run for President himself? After being identified as one of two possible presidential candidates — the other is Gilbert Teodoro — under Gloria’s PALAKA (formally known as Lakas-Kampi-CMD), the most probable reason why De Castro didn’t go with PALAKA was maybe because of fear that Gloria’s anointment would be tantamount to a “kiss of death.” And knowing that no other party would take him as their presidential candidate, a “marriage of convenience” with Villar would be his best option.
There are also rumors that Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas and DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno have agreed to team up as presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively, under the Liberal Party. If that’s true, watch out! because Puno’s track — or trick — record of winning presidential campaigns is legendary. Ask Ramos, Estrado and Arroyo. They won’t say “Yes” but Ramos would give you a thumbs-up, Erap would give you the victory sign, and La Gloria would giggle. Body language speaks the truth, right? And that’s probably the only reason why Roxas wanted Puno to be his running mate — better on his side than with the other side.
If both rumors were true, then who would be PALAKA’s standard bearer? Would it be Teodoro? But it looks like he might be dumped by La Gloria for making an indiscreet statement that he would be the first to oppose martial law. As Secretary of Defense, he might be able to prevent it from happening. But after he made his stand against martial law, rumors started to fly that Teodoro would soon be reshuffled as Secretary of Justice. Guess who is being rumored to take over as Secretary of Defense? Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. (ret.).
Oh, lest I forget, La Gloria appointed Public Works Secretary Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. (ret.) as Officer-in-Charge the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) while Puno is out of the country on medical leave. Puno denied that he is on medical leave saying that he went to the US to attend her daughter’s or son’s — their were conflicting reports — wedding. However, Executive Secretary Gen. Eduardo Ermita (ret.) told reporters that Puno is on “medical leave” and needed some rest. And that’s straight from the horse’s mouth. It was Gen. Ermita who signed both the “medical leave” of Puno and the OIC appointment of Gen. Ebdane.
The question is: Where is Teodoro going in the event he’s dumped by PALAKA? Is he going back his Uncle Danding’s Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC)? He might. But would he be able to position himself as the party’s presidential candidate? What would happen to Francis “Chiz” Escudero who is now the front-runner as NPC’s choice for President? If Teodoro went back to NPC, things would get real ugly.
The next question is: Who would be PALAKA’s standard bearer? It would seem that the only one left standing when the dust settled is Bayani Fernando. And whoever his running mate would be, would be a very weak — unwinnable — ticket. And that would give La Gloria nightmares even during the day.
La Gloria would be so paranoid of losing control of power that she might just bite the bullet and, to heck with it!, declare martial law. And that’s where her retired generals and the Class of ‘78 would come in. And it’s going to be 1972 over again.
In 1970, Marcos had his secret “Omega 5″ which consisted of five generals who planned the martial law of 1972. The well-known “Rolex 12” that became the backbone of the martial law was formed later, an expansion of the original “Omega 5.” I wonder if there would be something similar to “Omega 5” at this time? Something like, say, “Gemini 5″? That has a nice ring to it, isn’t it?
(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)
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