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Friday, March 28, 2003
Malilong: Mayor should look at his own backyard
By Frank Malilong, Jr.
The Other Side
Add the name Marius Corpus to Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s hate list. The interior and local governments undersecretary not only flunked the mayor’s standard of performance for public officials, said Osmena himself, he had the gall to talk back to him. Corpus’s non-performance may be pardonable, but his insolence, not. So Osmeña is taking his beef with Corpus all the way to President Arroyo herself.
I wish the mayor luck. Getting the President to agree to dismiss one of her top officials is a tall order even for someone as powerful as the city mayor of Cebu. Mrs. Arroyo has declared that she isn’t running for reelection so she has no special reason to accommodate Osmeña’s request just to please him.
On the other hand, the fact that she is not a candidate in 2004 could work in Osmeña’s favor. If Mrs. Arroyo is convinced that Osmeña’s complaint is legitimate, she might just grant his wish, regardless of who is Corpus or his backer to her.
At the same time, I also wish Osmeña would look at his own backyard and apply the same yardstick he used with Corpus. Listen, Tom: Thursday dawn last week, some people dug a canal across a portion of Vicente Urgello St. to lay drainage pipes.
Nothing wrong with that, yes, except that the idiots have not repaired the damage to the road as a result of the excavation until now. Let me ask your engineering people if a permit covered the digging, if not, whether they noticed it at all. Those mounds of dried-up soil at the excavation site are as much a monument to incompetence as the recent jailbreak at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center.
Ah, the jailbreak. Was it a case of life imitating art? How many movies have I seen built on the same plot? A woman giving the pre-arranged signal, a guard disarmed and held hostage, dud grenades to hold off pursuers and a waiting getaway vehicle.
Everything just went so perfectly we begin to wonder if the people involved were acting out a script.
As expected, jail authorities responded by punishing those who did not escape, suspending all visitation rights. When the inmates responded by staging a mass action, the brave jail warden fired his gun not once but sixteen times, injuring a number of inmates. If only he had been around to display his bravery and shooting skills at the time Bautista et al escaped. Tsk, tsk. Too late, the hero.
****
Former Education Secretary Raul Roco has consistently topped all surveys of presidential aspirants, making him a top favorite in 2004. If, as reported in yesterday’s issue of the Daily Inquirer, business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco and Sen. Panfilo Lacson will also run even against each other, then Roco has it all sewed up.
Even if Cojuangco runs as an administration candidate, he and Lacson will end up splitting the pro-Marcos and pro-Estrada votes, thereby hurting each other’s chances.
As the leading contender, a number of vice-presidential wannabes want to team up with the Bicolano leader. Roco is however said to be keen on getting an Osmeña for running mate. The trouble is that nobody among the nationally known Osmeñas have expressed interest. Tommy was said to have told Roco to ask his brother Serge, who in turn said he wanted to stay in the Senate.
That leaves Lito as the last Osmeña standing in Roco’s list. In fact, Lito is the most logical choice as Roco’s partner. Both claim solid support from their respective regions as Bicol and the Visayas voted overwhelmingly for their sons in the 1998 elections. A combination of the two blocs would be a very powerful one. The vice presidency is there for the taking. Lito shouldn’t tarry any minute longer.
(March 28, 2003 issue)
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