History is repeating itself before our eyes

One of my favorite quotations comes from Spanish philosopher George Santayana who quipped, “Those who do not remember the past is doomed to repeat them.” If there is anything that haunts Filipinos yesterday, today and tomorrow, it is the fact that we still do not know how to fix ourselves and make a better country out of the Philippines.

We all saw that hit movie “Heneral Luna” and this movie purportedly triggered thoughts of nationalism with those who saw it…but not realizing that during the days of Gen. Antonio Luna, the common political problem of that time was regional factionalism. The Caviteños hated the Kapampangans and disliked the Tagalogs, hence their biggest problem was not how to defeat the Spaniards and later the Americans, the biggest problem was how to fix themselves. We Cebuanos were not even involved in that fracas!

Indeed, our biggest enemy is ourselves! I never entertained any doubt in my mind that we Filipinos never learned from the mistakes of the past; therefore we are always doomed to repeat those mistakes. The best example is now happening with the ruling Liberal Party (LP). The election campaign period has not yet begun, but the LP has began to crumble and break  apart. The LP is akin to a badly constructed edifice that has started to collapse on a slight tremor, even before a major earthquake has struck.

In Cebu, because of the weak leadership of LP Governor Hilario “Jun Jun” Davide III, he is now facing a formidable opponent in the person of former GSIS General Manager Winston Garcia who is running under the One Cebu Party. Winston has made the smart move by not declaring any links to any national political parties and presidentiables. The One Cebu ruled the politics of the Province of Cebu a long time with three terms from Cebu Governor Pablo Garcia and the three years of Gov. Gwen F. Garcia.

In my book, Gov. Davide won in the 2013 mid-term elections thanks to the PCOS machines. Come now, he may have been the number one councilor in the North District of Cebu City, but he only won because of his name recognition. But as far as his performance is concerned…we are still looking for it. Being true to his character, Gov. Jun Jun Davide has done next to nothing for the Province of Cebu to the point that people who supported his candidacy like former Cebu Governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña was willing to ran against him for next year’s elections, but gave way to support the candidacy of Winston Garcia, who will be a formidable rival to Davide.

Meanwhile, the Bakud Party of Danao City Mayor Ramonito Durano has openly declared their support for Sen. Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero. The Bakud Party supported the LP, but Rep. Ace Durano, former Tourism Secretary said that he would still support the LP gubernatorial candidates. But then the Duranos no longer fully control the 5th District of Cebu because of their family feud. This is a huge minus votes for Mar Roxas!

Then another LP stalwart in Cebu Province, Provincial Board Member Arleigh Sitoy revealed that he no longer belongs to the LP. In the 1st District, the LP has broken up when San Fernando Mayor Abe Canoy decided to get out of the LP because Gov. Davide could not abandon the Gullas political family…although the Gullases are not members of the LP. Former Talisay Mayor and Rep. Eduardo “Eddiegul” Gullas intimated to me that he owes a debt to Mar Roxas, hence he is supporting the presidential bid of Roxas…but this incensed other LP members led by Mayor Canoy.

The more interesting defection comes from a very close friend of mine, Mr. Efrain “Jun” Pelaez, a businessman and civic crusader who has taken to task  the Radaza family for their despicable way of mishandling the garbage problem in Lapu-Lapu City which is one of the nation’s top tourist hubs, not to mention the numerous corruption charges that Mayor Paz Radaza is facing. Since 2010 Jun Pelaez has been a loyal LP partyman despite my telling him that the LP is out for no good. Now he is awake!

Jun Pelaez left the LP when they designated Mayor Radaza as their LP mayoralty candidate for Lapu-Lapu City despite the numerous corruption cases that she is facing. This is indeed the way for Daang Matuwid, to go for the more winnable candidate rather than the clean and honest one. In my book, the LP situation in Cebu truly defines their Daang Matuwid slogan, that the straight path to politics is as crooked as the people behind the LP.

Mind you, this is not only happening in the Province of Cebu, I learned that the LP has started to disintegrate in Negros Occidental when Rep. Alfredo Benitez head of the so-called Visayan bloc in Congress resigned from the LP and will run as an independent candidate. In the Province of Iloilo, Guimbal Mayor Christine Garin will challenge Neil Tupas, Jr. for the Vice-Governorship. All this remind us all of that unlamented political monolith called the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), the Partido ng Masang Pilipino, PDP Laban, and UNIDO. Indeed, history is repeating before our eyes!

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