Last week was a very busy week for Cebuano journalists because there were a lot of things going on in Cebu like that Environmental Tourism Forum with former Pres. Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) at the Marco Polo or the Presidential Forum dubbed “Choices and Voices for 2010”. But above all, what kept us busy was the arrival and funeral for our dear friend, the late Press Sec. Cerge M. Remonde, whose remains arrived via a C-130 Air Force plane Friday noon and we brought him to the Malacañang sa Sugbo, where later in the evening, the Cebu media held a necrological service for Cerge. All his close friends, including this writer, spoke about the years we had together with Cerge during our younger days.
Early Saturday morning, 28 big bikers from the Star Touring Group, Cruizers, Cebu Island Riders and Easy Riders Club escorted his funeral cortege to his hometown in Argao 67kms from Cebu City in what bikers called a great ride because the weather was very cloudy, yet it didn’t rain. No, Cerge was not a biker, though I would tell him stories of our great rides. But when I texted my brother Bing Avila if his group would escort Cerge to Argao, 28 riders found it an honor to escort his body on very short notice.
Arriving in Argao was quite emotional because 10 kms from the town, the national road was already festooned with white buntings and students lined up bearing placards, saying “We love you Cerge, we’ll miss you Cerge.”
They all lined up all the way to the ancestral home of Cerge, which was not far from the Diosdado Macapagal Cultural and Sports Center that he helped construct. His remains stayed overnight in that facility and the following day, Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Vice-Pres. Noli de Castro attended his funeral in what I believe was the biggest funeral Cebu had ever seen.
It was the first time I can recall that the President and Vice-President came to Cebu for a funeral. Indeed, Cerge Remonde was larger than life and from being a simple boy in Argao, he rose from the ranks of Cebu media and into the hallowed halls of Malacanang, but he died at his peak. Now he is back in his hometown in Argao, amongst his kin for his eternal repose.
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Between escorting the remains of Cerge and his necrological service that Saturday evening, I had the time to attend the Presidential Forum dubbed “Choices and Voices for 2010” where Cebuanos were able to hear the Presidentiables: Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Manny Villar, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada and former Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro Jr. speak before a great cross section of Cebu society, businessmen from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Cebu Business Club. Also in attendance were members of the academe and a lot of students from the various schools of Cebu.
As the forum was nearing its end, a mock election was done and out of the 960 ballots cast (there were close to 1,500) people at the Cebu International Convention Center) Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. bagged 456 votes, Noynoy Aquino 296 votes, Manny Villar got 88 votes. Dick Gordon got 45 votes, Bro. Eddie got 29 votes, while Erap got 19 votes. Perlas got two, although he wasn’t in the forum and there were 26 invalid ballots.
No doubt, the team of Noynoy expressed their disappointment as to why Noynoy got beaten by Gibo. LP Spokesman Butch Abad said that the mock poll wasn’t scientific. Scientific or not, the forum was attended by a good cross section of Cebu Society, from business organizations, the academe and the youth. Yes, only the masa was not there. But this tells you that those backing up Noynoy’s Presidential bid in Cebu have failed to deliver the goods in a very honest and clean survey. As for the SWS or Pulse Asia, we heard Noynoy say when Manny Villar was catching up on him that “you can get those surveys from Quiapo!” No sir that was a real survey where Gibo won by a huge margin and the campaign has barely begun!
Instead of attacking the mock elections, perhaps the LP should restudy what they did wrong in Cebu. Last week we already wrote that the One Visayas Movement would support Gibo Teodoro. That means a huge margin of support that is going only for Gibo. Where will Noynoy recover those lost votes? I don’t know, but his barkers keep on drum beating that Noynoy is invincible and will be the next President of this country, but Cebu has shown that Noynoy Aquino can be beaten and Gibo can win this race!
Since I don’t have enough space in this column, I will write for our next article, why Gibo won in that mock elections. As for Noynoy, he ought to stop saying, “During my mother’s time” or “This is what my father has done” in almost every sentence and tell us what he can do for himself!
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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mo-pzcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.comac. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.