Eddiegul still supporting PJ

WITH only two weeks to go before the start of the fficial campaign period for candidates for local positions, the political lines in Cebu are pretty much set, ruling out the possibility of any more major realignments. Even the announced exodus of mayors and other local officials from One Cebu to the Liberal Party (LP) isn’t likely to take place anymore. Some did make the switch but not in the number that was anticipated as Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and her family managed to plug the holes and stopped just in time a massive hemorrhage within the party.

Frank Malilong

The other side

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It was therefore pointless to ask Cebu 1st district Rep. Eduardo R. Gulllas if he remained committed to Pablo John Garcia in the gubernatorial contest. Of course, he is. What did you expect him to say? He has repeated it over and over in the last few months: his party’s alliance with the LP required his support only for its senatorial candidates.

Eddiegul did speak highly of Junjun Davide, Garcia’s rival from the LP, the other day. This was during the groundbreaking of a major public works project in his district that is partly funded with money coming from the allocation of a Davide ally, Cebu City south district Rep. Tommy Osmeña. But he did that, too with then presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino in 2010 and still continued to support Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party.

You can tell your parents that they won’t be sorry if they voted for Noynoy, Eddiegul told University of the Visayas students at that time in the presence of Aquino himself in the university’s gymnasium. When asked later by reporters if he was endorsing Aquino, Eddiegul said no, his candidate was still Villar but he couldn’t lie about the candidate’s admirable qualities.

What happened last Friday was a repeat. Gullas extolled Davide’s virtues, calling the LP gubernatorial candidate, “a worthy son of a worthy father.” But he was not endorsing Junjun, who was a classmate and remains a good friend of Eddiegul’s only son, Didi; PJ is still his candidate. He just could not lie about Davide’s qualities.

Will Davide be able to win in Gullas’ district just as he did in 2010 against PJ’s sister, Gwen? The LP doesn’t have a complete slate in most of the two cities and the three towns in the district, which is an aberration if you consider that it is the President’s party. This organizational failure is a weakness that is present in many other areas in the province.

But Davide faced in the same situation in 2010. Because of the lack of time and funds (mostly the latter), he was not able to fully organize up to the town level. And yet, he carried the entire district, except Sibonga where he lost to Gwen by the slightest of margins.

Junjun’s supporters are saying that if he won (in the first district) in 2010, when he was a newcomer to politics in the province, against an incumbent governor, how could he lose now to PJ? Could the answer lie in the fact that the Garcia camp may have learned their lesson and that this time, Gullas and his mayors are more actively involved in PJ’s campaign than they were in Gwen’s three years ago?

With the third district expected to go overwhelmingly for PJ and the fight very close in the other districts, the first could decide the outcome of the gubernatorial contest. That probably explains why they still asked Gullas to state the obvious just as they did in 2010 following his speech before UV students in the presence of Aquino.

By the way, in case you have forgotten and without saying that it is relevant to the discussion, let me mention that Aquino won in Cebu and in the country.

(frank.otherside@yahoo.com)