EDITORIAL - Political programming

There seems to be a wholesale reversal of fortunes in the political front and it would be interesting to find out if a hand waving a magic wand is deliberately turning all these tables around or whether these are simple twists of fate that just happened to occur almost together.

First there was Celestino Martinez III getting declared by the Supreme Court as the real winner in the 2007 elections over Benhur Salimbangon who is currently sitting as representative of Cebu's fourth congressional district.

Not long after, the Comelec declared that former Bulacan governor Roberto Pagdanganan actually won over sitting governor Joselito Mendoza. Then for good measure, the poll body also declared Lilia Pineda as the true winner of the gubernatorial race in Pampanga over Ed Panlilio.

But prior to all these, there was already that ouster of Grace Padaca as Isabela governor to the declared true winner, former governor Benjamin Dy. In all these instances, the fights had been very close and the eventual margins after recount came by the skin of the winners' teeth.

So, is there a long thread of conspiracy stringing all of these incidents together or is this just an incredible feat of coincidence? With the political environment in this country so polluted, even official declarations no longer clear the air to provide depth of perspective.

Did this one really win the first time, or did that one truly win in the recount? The tragedy is that no one can be absolutely certain anymore, even with the official determinations made by the official determining bodies.

Worse, it does not help any that the official determinations should come at the eleventh hour. Except perhaps for a late massage on a severely bruised ego, of what practical benefit does it really do anyone to be ushered to the banquet table after all the food is practically gone?

Our fear is that truth may have become such a fragmented whole that for practical reasons it may be to the best interests of each party to a political controversy to just keep their piece of the truth, timing only the moment and the extent to which they can claim it to be so.

Rightly or wrongly, anyone who wins the first time gets to sit in power and assumes all that it implies, including the right to be untouchable. He is not to be disturbed until the last minute when power dissipates, by which time even bragging rights is enough for the true winner.