Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz: A shame for Mandaue!

The treasonous act of Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz has reverberated throughout Mandaue City. This was truly something that Mandauehanons did not expect her to do. I recall that it was during the birthday of Gov. Gwen F. Garcia last Oct.12, 2009 when then Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro Jr. was in Cebu to sign the memorandum of agreement (MOA) to turn over Camp Lapu-Lapu to the Province of Cebu. Out of the blue, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz declared her support for GIBO to be the next President of the country.

At that time, the campaign period hasn’t even begun and I think GIBO was still with the Nationalist People’s Coalition party (NPC). But Rep. Nerissa already knew GIBO well and in fairness to her, she went to town, (not just in Mandaue) to tell anyone who listened why GIBO should be the next President of the Philippines and without doubt, she was very convincing. Of course, this was at the expense of Sen. Manny Villar and Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III where she mentioned words about them that are not even worth printing in this corner.

The last time I met Rep. Soon-Ruiz, it was at the Most Important Persons (MIP) Lounge at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) where she met with Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) who came to inaugurate the “Cleanergy” plant in Sangi, Toledo of the Cebu Energy Development Corp. Back then, she made no inkling that she would betray her good friend GIBO. If you read the Bible, at the Last Supper even the 11 other apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ had no idea that one of their own, Judas Iscariot, would sell their Master to the Sanhedrin.

But the die has been cast. Rep. Soon-Ruiz has done a most despicable act of betrayal, not only against GIBO, but against the Lakas-Kampi-NUCD, the One Cebu Party and most of all, the thousands of Mandauehanons who bought her line that they should be voting for GIBO. Included in this list is no less than Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) herself who has helped Inday Nerry fund her pet projects. In fact I got a lot of text messages from these pro-GIBO Mandauehanons, expressing their dismay and embarrassment that a Mandauehanon has done this very shameful act. I got a lot of text messages saying that Inday Nerry “succumbed” to “Money” Villar!

The dilemma that the One Cebu Party faces is that, they can no longer sanction Rep. Soon-Ruiz as she has already resigned from this party. In order to save face, she may have quit the party, but indicated that she is still supporting the tandem of Gov. Gwen Garcia and Glenn Soco. But you already know the Governor’s answer to that statement: “Thanks, but no thanks!” That Gov. Gwen is sticking it out with GIBO shows that her kind of politics is one of honor and integrity, which is the opposite ideology of Rep. Soon-Ruiz, whose politics is very focused on “Me, myself and I.”

Now the question begging to be asked is, “Did she make that declaration in order to save face? Or because he direly needs the support of Gov. Gwen and the One Cebu Party?” My bets are she doesn’t want to cut ties completely with Gov. Gwen because if she does, she’ll literally go down the drain. I gathered that the camp of Luigi Quisumbing even has supporters helping Inday Nerry, but I’m sure that they will be pulled out from her. I met with Luigi’s mom last Sunday and she’s all out for One Cebu Party.

But this is not the end of this story. After the Holy Week season breezes through, we shall see a more explosive sequel to this ugly episode. Like what I said, the angry pro-GIBO voters will certainly vote for Mayor Jonas Cortes, who is apparently the principal beneficiary of this brouhaha. How it would finally end can be seen after the May 10 elections. Pundits who have already predicted the loss of Lito Ruiz who is running for Congress in Lapu-Lapu City are now predicting the loss of Rep. Soon-Ruiz.

This is one prediction that is not far-fetched because right now, Mayor Jonas has a slight lead over Rep. Soon-Ruiz as there are many angry Mandauehanons who questioned her making Lapu-Lapu City a lone Congressional District, while denying Mandaue this honor. Mandaue City is after all, second to Cebu City if you rank the Metro Cebu Cities on a list. In short, Mandaue City deserved to be a Lone Congressional District ahead of Lapu-Lapu City. My good friend, Dr. Jojo Cortes calls it “Nerrymandering!”

In this age of computerized elections, it is high time that we come up with politicians who are willing to serve their constituents and not serve themselves first. This is exactly what happened in the case of Rep. Nerry’s betrayal of GIBO. She only thought of herself, not realizing that the dastardly act would boomerang on her already poor reputation. Even the church is against Inday Nerry for her unbridled support for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, where she is the active co-author. In short, the odds are now stacked against her candidacy!

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