By Ducky Paredes
PRESIDENTIAL Bunso, Kris Aquino, in her evening show on ABS-CBN with Boy Abunda divulged that she and her sisters have been talking about the possibility of their brother endorsing Vice President Binay of the United Filipino Alliance (UFA) an opposition party to the Liberals.
“Kami ng mga sister ko naman pinag-uusapan namin yan. Sinasabi namin puwede naman talagang magkaroon ng unity at puwedeng kung ano kasi hindi naman kami magkaaway. At kung ipagpapatuloy naman niya lahat ng nasimulan ni Noy, why not?,” said Kris.
Kris made it clear that she was not talking on behalf of her brother, the President. “I’m speaking for me and my sisters only. Nobody else. Klaruhin ko lang baka pagalitan ako,” she added.
“At wala naman sila paki sa opinion namin,” she said before laughing away her insolence.
Co-host Boy Abunda echoed Kris in saying what is needed is someone who will continue Aquino’s programs. “Everything is possible in politics,” he added.
Aquino and Abunda Tonight is a talk show where the hosts weigh in on the biggest issues in politics and show business.
Of course, the greatest fear of many who have been closely following the Vice President’s political career is precisely that his career path has been a contrast to that of the Aquino presidents’ Tuwid na Daan.
After the Binay segment, the Entertainment hosts talked of a a legislative measure filed by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Both belong to the Nacionalista Party headed by PNoy rival in 2019 Senator Manuel Villar. Both younger senators have been talking up the possibility of their seeking higher office in 2016.
Cayetano’s Iskolar ng Bayan Act of 2014 that seeks to grant the Top 10 graduates of all public schools scholarship in state universities. In the same discussion, Kris managed to take a subtle swipe at Trillanes.
She said: “Remember, Boy, the time when we were talking about Senator Trillanes and di ba he was critical? And then sabi ko we have to be ambitious. And then itong kay Senator Cayetano, bongga. Kasi ang mga estudyante na nagsusumikap, Top 10 in their class, puwede na magpatuloy ng pag-aaral nila na hindi na pasanin ng mga magulang.”
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Clearly, the Aquino sisters’ political views should not be considered as having any weight among the leaders of the Liberal Party who will be making the decision on who will be their party’s candidate in 2016.
Their presumptive candidate is still Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, who, having lost to Jejomar Binay for the vice presidency in the 2010 elections is being considered by most political observers as headed for another defeat if he challenges Binay again in 2016. Certainly to have even the possibility of a chance Roxas must approach such a contest with much more focus and single-mindedness than he showed in his 2010 campaign. He must also find a winning theme and must pull his party together so that everyone to the last Liberal party member will join him in the campaign.
In the 2010 campaign , even some in Malacañang actually campaigned and worked for a Binay win either from having been close to Binay during the Corazon Aquino presidency or from having been peeved (or at least turned off) by the Roxas campaign that did not (in their judgment) hew to the campaign for an Aquino presidency.
Why neither PNoy nor Roxas saw what was coming is inexplicable because it was well-known even to non-politicos what was going on. Certainly another Roxas run along the same lines will probably result in the same scenario being repeated with the same results -- another Binay victory – not just among the party faithful in Malacañang but possibly all over the country. I honestly do not know if Roxas has the leadership that can inspire all of the President’s men and all of the Liberals behind his run for the presidency. Nothing short of everyone to the last man, all working for a Roxas victory will work against a Binay who is considered, even at this early point, months before the start of the campaign, already as a winner.
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Are there others, Liberal or others who are politically allied with the President who can do better than Roxas will?
Certainly, there must be others who, unlike Jojo Binay, who ought to be rejected by all who want a continuation of the Daang Matuwid, for having become a millionaire during his stint as City Mayor of Makati, who is an easy candidate for prosecution under RA 3019, the Anti Graft and Corrupt practices Act. This law’s Section 8 contradicts the held adage that one is innocent until proven guilty: “If in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act Numbered One thousand three hundred seventy-nine, a public official has been found to have acquired during his incumbency, whether in his name or in the name of other persons, an amount of property and/or money manifestly out of proportion to his salary and to his other lawful income, that fact shall be a ground for dismissal or removal. Properties in the name of the spouse and unmarried children of such public official may be taken into consideration, when their acquisition through legitimate means cannot be satisfactorily shown. Bank deposits shall be taken into consideration in the enforcement of this section, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary.”
Are there any possible candidates from politicians allied with the Liberals who could at least swear to uphold the President’s “Daang Matuwid” and would most probably keep on that path to the end of their terms or is the President’s party left with no one who can win against the phenomenally popular Vice President?
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I urge the reader to consider three possibilities from the Nacionalistas – Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, whose wife, Lani as mayor of Taguig City pushes for “Walang Corrupt sa Taguig” as part of her LGU’s commitment to surpass the achievement of the Binays in neighboring Makati; Senator Trillanes, who started an aborted soldier’s revolution against President Gloria Arroyo; and Senator Cynthia Villar, who as President could get more of our unemployed working and the country moving closer to greater productivity, considering all that she has done to get so many involved in new ventures and new ways of using native materials in creating new products.
Then, there is also former Senator Ping Lacson of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), who as a Cabinet Member (Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery) assigned to the area devastated by Typhoon Yolanda, worked out the plans that passed muster with the government and the international community. What recommends Lacson is that he is one of only two senators who never accepted or touched the Priority Development Funds (PDAFs) that was assigned to them.
If any readers have other candidates in mind, your letters are welcome.
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Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@gmail.com or you can send me a message through Twitter @diretsahan.
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