Borgy vs. Kris in 2022?
October 22, 2006 | 12:00am
To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, may one day be president of the United States. – US President George W. Bush
My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference. – US President Harry S. Truman
Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm. – Frank Dane
At a recent speech at topnotch Torres High School in Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila, I challenged the public school kids to defy their disadvantaged circumstances, dare to dream big and be willing to pay the price to attain those dreams. I reminded them that Manila’s ancient Tondo district spawned the best Filipino poets, writers, rebels, artists and even entrepreneurs – all of them bold dreamers. I urged them to be the best engineers, writers, scholars and doctors, and aim to be a new breed of leaders, not just frivolous song-and-dance celebrities or basketball players. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this city of my childhood, Manila, might soon have a model/socialite Marcos grandkid as its future mayor. Whew! That’s really Imeldific!
I wasn’t surprised when Ilocos Norte Congresswoman Imee Marcos recently announced to the world (yes, any news about her mom Imelda Romualdez Marcos somehow still grabs global headlines 20 years after the 1986 civilian-backed military uprising at EDSA) that her mom Imeldific will be the campaign manager to Imee’s 23-year-old son Borgy Marcos Manotoc. So now the cat is out of the bag: a photogenic and sometimes androgynous-looking grandson of the late strongman President Ferdinand Marcos is gunning for the high-profile post of Manila City datu… oops, mayor.
Imee reminded the public that Borgy’s Manotoc roots are in proletarian Tondo, despite the lad’s having studied in the US and his seeming preference for the glitzy dance/booze clubs of Greenbelt/The Fort or the sybarite beaches of Boracay. What a funny coincidence: our late dad used to operate two sawmills in Tondo.
If Borgy wins over other rumored mayoralty bets Senator Ping Lacson, Vice-Mayor Danny Lacuna, Ali Atienza and Mark Jimenez, I predict that his mom Imee will become a de facto regent of this capital city and his grandma Imelda shall strut upon the national stage as the most colorful Empress Dowager.
Pardon my asking, but will the young Borgy add that, among his litany of campaign promises if he wins, his grandma Imeldific will bring back the fabled Marcos billions of dollars their clan allegedly stashed away in Switzerland or Hong Kong or in other overseas havens? Can he put those alleged Marcos billions to good use to help Manila’s many suffering poor or help pay off the country’s record-high one trillion-plus pesos in foreign debts thoughtlessly accumulated by several presidents?
Please excuse my fertile imagination in describing Imeldific as Empress Dowager. Perhaps this is the after-effect of having watched the recent Shangri-la Plaza Cinema premiere of the epic movie The Banquet starring Zhang Ziyi as a luscious empress embroiled in endless political power struggles and romantic intrigues. Not only should former Metro Manila Governor Imelda and Congresswoman Imee watch this film, but also our Dragon Lady-now-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Among the many lessons in The Banquet is to never trust anyone in politics and to always watch your back even at the peak of your powers. Another lesson is that not all people in politics can be bought, and not all protagonists in the cynical world of politics are craven and corrupt – so watch out!
If Borgy enters the political fray next year as part of his clan’s efforts to vindicate the Marcos political legacy, I daresay that their mortal political foes, the late Senator Ninoy Aquino and ex-President Cory C. Aquino, will someday have their kids Tarlac Congressman Noynoy Aquino and TV superstar Kris Aquino run in future elections. I believe Noynoy Aquino of the opposition Liberal Party will run for and easily win a seat as senator in 2007, and that his younger sister Kris will also inevitably zoom to the Senate afterwards.
My fearless forecast is that in the near future, perhaps in 2022 or earlier, Borgy and Kris might be pitted against each other in a historic proxy war between two political titans – the Marcos and Aquino families – in an incomparable battle royale for future prime minister of the Philippines. It’s breathtaking and so coincidental that two respectable political dynasties of the Philippines – the Marcoses and the Aquinos – which have both sent family members to the Ateneo, UP, Harvard, Princeton and Oxford for education, now have by chance or by clever design allowed their scions Kris and Borgy to earn their "credentials" in the topsy-turvy world of showbiz.
My question to all these celebrity demi-gods like Borgy and Kris is this: How will their seeming inexorable rise to fabulous wealth, fame and future political power affect the destiny of this sad republic where a vast majority of the masses are mired in grinding poverty and lack of good education? (Don’t believe the statistical claims mostly concocted by our government economists or by political buffoons.)
I’ve always said in public speeches or forums, whether in schools or civic groups, that the Philippines is not hopeless, but our many corrupt and inutile politicians are hopeless! Will they – Kris, Borgy, Noynoy, Imee, Bongbong et al – be much more idealistic and effective in translating good ideas into reality than their famous forebears ever did or had tragically failed to do? Can and will they alter the future of the Philippines for the better, which is the moral duty of not only elite personages like themselves but of all of us citizens of this republic?
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My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference. – US President Harry S. Truman
Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm. – Frank Dane
At a recent speech at topnotch Torres High School in Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila, I challenged the public school kids to defy their disadvantaged circumstances, dare to dream big and be willing to pay the price to attain those dreams. I reminded them that Manila’s ancient Tondo district spawned the best Filipino poets, writers, rebels, artists and even entrepreneurs – all of them bold dreamers. I urged them to be the best engineers, writers, scholars and doctors, and aim to be a new breed of leaders, not just frivolous song-and-dance celebrities or basketball players. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this city of my childhood, Manila, might soon have a model/socialite Marcos grandkid as its future mayor. Whew! That’s really Imeldific!
I wasn’t surprised when Ilocos Norte Congresswoman Imee Marcos recently announced to the world (yes, any news about her mom Imelda Romualdez Marcos somehow still grabs global headlines 20 years after the 1986 civilian-backed military uprising at EDSA) that her mom Imeldific will be the campaign manager to Imee’s 23-year-old son Borgy Marcos Manotoc. So now the cat is out of the bag: a photogenic and sometimes androgynous-looking grandson of the late strongman President Ferdinand Marcos is gunning for the high-profile post of Manila City datu… oops, mayor.
Imee reminded the public that Borgy’s Manotoc roots are in proletarian Tondo, despite the lad’s having studied in the US and his seeming preference for the glitzy dance/booze clubs of Greenbelt/The Fort or the sybarite beaches of Boracay. What a funny coincidence: our late dad used to operate two sawmills in Tondo.
If Borgy wins over other rumored mayoralty bets Senator Ping Lacson, Vice-Mayor Danny Lacuna, Ali Atienza and Mark Jimenez, I predict that his mom Imee will become a de facto regent of this capital city and his grandma Imelda shall strut upon the national stage as the most colorful Empress Dowager.
Pardon my asking, but will the young Borgy add that, among his litany of campaign promises if he wins, his grandma Imeldific will bring back the fabled Marcos billions of dollars their clan allegedly stashed away in Switzerland or Hong Kong or in other overseas havens? Can he put those alleged Marcos billions to good use to help Manila’s many suffering poor or help pay off the country’s record-high one trillion-plus pesos in foreign debts thoughtlessly accumulated by several presidents?
If Borgy enters the political fray next year as part of his clan’s efforts to vindicate the Marcos political legacy, I daresay that their mortal political foes, the late Senator Ninoy Aquino and ex-President Cory C. Aquino, will someday have their kids Tarlac Congressman Noynoy Aquino and TV superstar Kris Aquino run in future elections. I believe Noynoy Aquino of the opposition Liberal Party will run for and easily win a seat as senator in 2007, and that his younger sister Kris will also inevitably zoom to the Senate afterwards.
My fearless forecast is that in the near future, perhaps in 2022 or earlier, Borgy and Kris might be pitted against each other in a historic proxy war between two political titans – the Marcos and Aquino families – in an incomparable battle royale for future prime minister of the Philippines. It’s breathtaking and so coincidental that two respectable political dynasties of the Philippines – the Marcoses and the Aquinos – which have both sent family members to the Ateneo, UP, Harvard, Princeton and Oxford for education, now have by chance or by clever design allowed their scions Kris and Borgy to earn their "credentials" in the topsy-turvy world of showbiz.
My question to all these celebrity demi-gods like Borgy and Kris is this: How will their seeming inexorable rise to fabulous wealth, fame and future political power affect the destiny of this sad republic where a vast majority of the masses are mired in grinding poverty and lack of good education? (Don’t believe the statistical claims mostly concocted by our government economists or by political buffoons.)
I’ve always said in public speeches or forums, whether in schools or civic groups, that the Philippines is not hopeless, but our many corrupt and inutile politicians are hopeless! Will they – Kris, Borgy, Noynoy, Imee, Bongbong et al – be much more idealistic and effective in translating good ideas into reality than their famous forebears ever did or had tragically failed to do? Can and will they alter the future of the Philippines for the better, which is the moral duty of not only elite personages like themselves but of all of us citizens of this republic?
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