Parcon: Build on Sand and Web of Half-Truths: Monico's Smear Campaign Against Mayor Bing

THE campaign strategy of Monico Puentevella to grab the mayoralty seat of Bacolod City from Mayor Bing Leonardia unraveled quite fast because it was built on sand and a web of half-truths.

Monico built his campaign strategy on black propaganda designed to besmirch the reputation of Mayor Bing by portraying the latter's major projects as a means to earn income on the side.

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Monico made use of his sympathizers employed in City Hall to gain access to public records.

From these public records (such as initial reports issued by auditors of the Commission of Audit assigned at City Hall), Monico's retained lawyers constructed case after case and filed them from one forum to another, with the help of dedicated lapdogs.

Every time Monico's lapdogs filed a case, the high-paying media practitioners he retained flooded the print and broadcast media with tons of black propaganda, right before and right after the filing of the case.

Then when the campaign period came, Monico's media retainers dug the dead issues from the grave, embalmed them, and displayed them again, in order to gain public sympathy.

For a while, Monico's black propaganda seemed to be working as planned. However, an act of providence demolished their strategy quite easily because it was built on sand. It was built on half-truths.

The demolition came on the day Mayor Bing received the Ombudsman's resolution on several criminal and administrative cases filed by Monico's camp against him and his group on the the construction of the New Government Center of Bacolod City.

This resolution unmasked the black propaganda strategy of Monico for all to see and for the enlightenment of the Bacolodnons.

In his resolution, the Ombudsman Investigator said that while there is only one issue-whether Mayor Bing's group committed anomalies in the construction of the NGC-the complainants have chosen to file endless complaints, prompting him to wonder as to what was the real motive for the filing of myriads of cases, whether it is really for the interest of justice, or something else (like political harassment).

At the same time, the Ombudsman Investigator was exasperated that while there were many complaints filed six criminal and six administrative cases or a total of twelve cases, the complainants failed miserably to substantiate their claims with evidence.

The Ombudsman's resolution on the twelve NGC cases filed by Monico's camp against Mayor Bing's group has shown the flaw in Monico's character -- that of resorting to dirty tricks, even if reputations are destroyed along the way, because he and his media wizards still thought, in their evil hearts and minds, that they could really fool the Bacolodnons, with their black propaganda.

However, God is good. He cannot allow evil to triumph over good.

God's hand is clearly seen on the timing of the release of the Ombudsman resolution throwing out, in one sweep, all the twelve cases filed by Monico's cohorts against Mayor Bing's group.

The faithful of Bacolod City could not ask for a better timing from God.

Not only that, the Bacolodnons should really praise God because He is showing His Hand in this May 10 election.

The Lord's providence can also be seen in Monico's failure to derail the Sanitary Landfill and the Arao Relocation Community projects of Mayor Bing and Vice Mayor Thaddy.

Monico's camp went all out in torpedoing the two projects. They employed all that they can humanly do. But clearly, God is not with them.

Rightly so, because God could not stand in the way of projects that would redound to the benefit of Bacolodnons as a whole and of poor squatters in particular.

God, through the Universal Church, has admonished governments to take care of Mother Earth and the poor. This is what the Sanitary Landfill and Arao Relocation Community projects are all about.