Bewildering fast political developments
Developments in Philippine politics happen very fast. By developments, I mean, among many other things, the movements of politicians from being under a banner to another to run as candidates of the latter, the positions of party leaders vis-à-vis such turncoats couched in motherhood statements, and the pronouncements of those affected by party decisions usually in apologetic manner. These developments take place in so quick a succession that lesser mortals, like me, who are untrained and uneducated in political maneuvers, get frustratingly bewildered.
Let us take the case of former Cebu City South District Congressman Tomas R. Osmeña. Not very long ago, he promoted the tandem of former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and Senator Chiz Escudero for president and vice president respectively. In his persuasive language, he heaped high praises to both men leading us to believe that he is all four-square backing up their candidacies.
To many of us, Osmeña's act was a natural. The late Senator Gerardo Roxas, the father of Sec. Mar, and the late Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr., the father of Ex-cong. Tom, who were stalwarts of the Liberal Party in opposing the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, were among those who suffered the same horrible fate of being maimed by exploding fragmentation grenades at the Plaza Miranda.
The support of the former Cebu City lawmaker for the candidacy of Sen. Escudero which was prominently reported by Cebu dailies was however, not as easy for us, ordinary citizens, to accept as we understood his rooting for Roxas. The young senator, who is now aiming to become vice president, does not belong to the Liberal Party. The father of Senator Escudero was an ally of the late strongman Marcos, the very president Gerry Roxas and Serging Osmeña fought against. Yet, despite their parents' different political lineage, the endorsement of Tom should buoy up the political aspirations of Chiz, his matrimonial godson, among Cebuano voters.
The next event came in as a fast development and it bewildered me. Congresswoman Leni Robredo visited Cebu, recently. Her visit was part of her earnest efforts to explore her chances to run also for vice president. Who was her gallant escort/host? Former Congressman Osmeña. In the appearance of Rep. Robredo, in dyAB's Arangkada, which happened to be Tom's favorite radio show, the former Cebu representative seemed to suffer a severe case of amnesia. He virtually forgot his prior endorsement for a Roxas-Escudero tandem. This time, he sang a new tune - Roxas-Robredo! For reasons solely his own, he looked like switching his support from one Bicol political stalwart in Escudero, his godson, to Robredo, another Bicolano. Quite honestly, I am not prepared to say that he did that make him close (I do not want to use "ingratiate" the more appropriate word) to the lady vice presidential hopeful for any other reason than loyalty to the Liberal Party.
Anyway, did I hear accurately the former Representative Osmeña talk about his memorable student days with the late Jesse Robredo, husband of Rep. Robredo? Tom and Jesse must have been colleagues in Cagayan de Oro City where our ex-lawmaker reportedly took up Agricultural Economics before Martial Law was declared in 1972 despite the published bio-data of the late Jesse Robredo that he was an engineering student of De La Salle University and at the University of the Philippines where he finished his masters in 1985! It really did not matter to me that when Marcos proclaimed Martial Law, Tom was in his mid 20's while Jesse was barely in his teens and for which reason, they could not be college buddies, because I savored the thought that he was, this time, abandoning Escudero and pushing for the candidacy of Rep. Robredo.
Differently said, I like to imagine that if our former legislator mixed (and that's why he messed with) some data, it was his way shoring up the candidacy of the LP bet for vice president. His following in Cebu City might have been greatly diminished, as shown by his embarrassing debacle in the 2013 elections, but still his articulation is helpful to advance the cause of the lady aspirant to the second highest government position in our country.
May I paraphrase my opening line? Some political developments in our country happen so fast that they make our politicians quick purveyors of half-truths!
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