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EVEN as the One-Cebu Party was reported by Cebu Gov.
Gwendolyn Garcia, its founder, to be gaining strength
with the jumping in of some 40 local officials from
other parties, the question that remains looming like a
giant on the horizon is where would the business sector
put its money.
While it does not say where the One-Cebu Party will get its
funding, its spokesman Pablo John Garcia said the group
would join hands with any political party that would
support the administration of President Arroyo except
Lakas, whom they accuse of neglecting
Cebu.
The question of funding—in addition to the contributions of
the candidates—also loom large in the senatorial
battles.
 Senatorial
candidate Lakas Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr.
of Surigao del Sur predicts the Team Unity of the
administration is the horse of the businessmen on the
ground they espouse a clear agenda for economic
development and socio-political stability.
Pichay added that the business community would shun the
opposition, given the latter’s “lack of clear agenda for
economic development and its penchant for hatching
destabilization plots to grab power.”
Pichay cited San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito’s claim that the
opposition’s senatorial campaign was being hobbled by
financial woes. “If that is true, then it only means
that the opposition is being rejected by major sectors
by not giving it financial and other support.”
He added it was obvious that businessmen were distancing
themselves from the opposition because of past events,
where certain opposition leaders were implicated in
relentless attempts to “undermine the Constitution and
topple the Arroyo administration.”
But Pichay is not entirely sure the opposition is bereft of
funds believing that former President Joseph Estrada is
a large source of campaign funds, so that he said
Ejercito’s claim, while true of the business sector, did
not include the mayor’s father. “It is no wonder why the
former president even now calls the shots in the
opposition, not because he has credibility but due to
his billions.”
“This makes Ejercito’s claim a “cheap attempt to portray the
opposition as an underdog in the campaign . . . His
statement is for paawa effect to get the people’s
sympathy. It’s a not-so-subtle form of begging for poll
donations.”
House senior deputy majority leader Arthur Defensor said,
meanwhile, the administration coalition will focus not
only on the senatorial race but also on the
congressional polls to ensure that President Arroyo
would continue to enjoy the support of an overwhelming
majority of congressmen.
Defensor, a Lakas stalwart, said the administration coalition
is adopting a “holistic approach” in its bid to dominate
the opposition in the May 14 polls. He said the
coalition will field common candidates in the 212
districts throughout the country.
If this includes the One-Cebu Party, which avers it has not
broken with President Arroyo, is not clear but their
spokesman John Garcia said that
Cebu
politicians who oppose the party are not Cebu province
leaders but of the City of Cebu and the rest are
lameduck politicians.
John Garcia, of the politically powerful Garcia family in
Cebu, Reps. Raul del Mar and Antonio Cuenco are from the
city while Reps. Clavel Martinez, Simeon Kintanar, and
Antonio Yapha are on their third and final terms.
“Hence, they do not matter.”
“Why should
Cebu province stick it out with Lakas when that party has never
done anything for the province and its people?” John
Garcia asked. “They did not support Gwendolyn for
governor of
Cebu, even though her father, former governor Pablo Garcia, was a
member of Lakas and had done much for the party and
province.”
Governor Garcia said the new party “is not self-centered or
self-seeking” but “the party is joining hands with other
political parties and groups that recognize the need to
strengthen genuine regional and local autonomy, as the
dynamo of national progress.
Cebu has
been able to mark rapid economic progress and growth
through self-reliance and by tapping on the innate
industry and native ingenuity of our people.”
She added that “the One Cebu Party is not divisive, rather it
is stressing unity in diversity and common efforts in
the journey toward progress through a national bayanihan
movement.”
As if in answer, Lakas congressmen speaking in Manila—Isidoro
Real of Zamboanga del Sur and Mauricio Domogan of Baguio
City—said leaders of the ruling coalition deemed it
unwise to concentrate only on the senatorial race,
considering that local positions like congressmen,
governors and mayors are equally important because these
represent power from the grassroots.
The opposition has a different take. Opposition legislators
said they have expected this from the administration,
given the continued threat of impeachment against the
President.
House minority leader Francis Escudero, an opposition
senatorial bet, said Arroyo cannot escape the prospect
of having impeachment cases filed against her year after
year until her term expires because of her refusal to
answer nagging questions over the legitimacy of her
presidency.
“It is expected that Malacañang will try its darndest to
retain control of the House, and even the Senate. It’s
all about preempting another impeachment move against
her,” said Escudero.
On the party-list oppositionists, the administration
appeared to have taken a very proactive tack. Party-list
Rep. Liza Maza of Gabriela has been implicated in a
murder case, that she calls “plain and simple
harassment” and “a ploy to discredit me and my group.”
Maza received on Thursday a subpoena over the killing of
three coordinators in Nueva Ecija—Danilo Felipe, Jimmy
Peralta and Carlito Bayudang.
Named in the case with her are other party-list congressmen—Bayan
Muna’s Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, Anakpawis’s
Rafael Mariano, and 15 others who are not lawmakers.
“We’d like to think of it as a Valentine ruse from the
administration. The charges are so ludicrious. Whoever
masterminded it should be a fanta-serye writer,” she
said.
Maza said the charges were a rehash of the rebellion charges
also filed against her colleagues. The alleged killings
took place February 18 and 23 in 2001 and on
May 6,
2004 in Nueva Ecija.
This seemed to imply is was another “deep selection” case not
unlike that of the charges of rebellion against
Party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis, which
dated back to the days of the dictatorship in the 80’s.
J. Cadacio and R. Acosta |
