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Thursday, January 08, 2004
Espinoza: Osmeñas bound to keep family’s pride
By Elias L. Espinoza
FACETS. Elections have many facets. Depending on how one looks at it, candidates, especially those in power, will always use their influence to get the support of the voters.
In the Caraga Region, which comprises the provinces of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, administration candidates intercede even in the hiring of policemen.
A senator and a congressman in Surigao del Sur reportedly cornered and divided between them the 160 allocations for PNP personnel in this region. At the end of the day, qualified applicants were sideswept by their recommendees.
This happened because of the forthcoming elections in May since these two reelectionists can’t refuse or put down the request of their supporters in their respective areas.
Woe unto the qualified applicants whose names were later lost in the listings after the two supposed elected public servants intervened, who went to the point of harassing the police regional director so that their recommendees would be prioritized.
The National Police Commission (Napolcom) and the PNP have guidelines and standards in the hiring of applicants to the PNP. However, procedures are undermined due to some politicians’ sheer greed.
Look at the irony in our lives. While these politicians may have, at one time or another, assailed corruption in government, yet they initiated it wittingly or unwittingly.
A source said these politicians never intervened in the previous police recruitment because it happened not during the election period. This is an indication how abominable some politicians are.
As a matter of fact, because of the politicians’ intervention, the recruits’ oath taking, which was supposed to take place last December, had been reset to this month.
It is not surprising though that PNP recruits, even before they could start serving the public already had a taste of corruption. Yes, we may have a good system, but the people, who are supposed to implement it, are the first to destroy the system.
Well, I haven’t heard of a similar situation here in Central Visayas during the recruitment of PNP personnel for this region. This only shows that politicians here do not care less if they get votes from the recruits’ families.
TALK. After Monday’s deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacies (COC), the air is now clear and the lines are drawn as to who the candidates are and which parties they are running with.
The tandem of Vice Gov. John-john Osmeña and lawyer Adie Sitoy is not really a surprise. The tandem may, however, be a surprise to Gwen Garcia, who filed her COC under Lakas.
Osmeña filed his COC as NPC gubernatorial bet while Sitoy filed his COC as Lakas-CMD official vice gubernatorial candidate. It goes without saying therefore that their tandem is running under a “rainbow coalition” as Rep. Joe de Venecia will put it.
Strictly speaking, though, this should not be too much of a concern for Gwen since she is running for governor. The hitch, however, is that Sitoy is obliged to carry John-john being his runningmate.
At the end of the day, the candidacies of Junie Martinez, who ran as an independent gubernatorial bet, and Gwen Garcia as Lakas bet per nomination by his father, Governor Garcia, are placed in a state of stupor, so to speak.
The promise of Sen. John Osmeña to support Junie Martinez is nothing but mere
hollow words. It is simply uncharacteristic for a father to leave his son. As the saying goes “blood is always thicker than water.”
So between Martinez and John-john, the support of senator Osmeña will always be in favor of his blood, the vice-governor. In the same manner, Lito Osmeña will lend support to his nephew.
It is the family’s pride that the Osmeñas are obliged and bound to keep. It will be beyond comprehension if they allow a non-Osmeña to run the affairs of Capitol when a young Osmeña has already offered and made himself available.
With all due respect, Martinez seems to have forgotten his lessons from the last polls. I suppose Gwen and his father were aware of this only that they want to show the Osmeñas that they are also leaders in their own right.
On the other hand, the Osmeña-Sitoy tandem can pose a little headache for former Mandaue City mayor Alfredo “Pedong” Ouano and his son, Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano, who is the chairman of Lakas-CMD in the sixth district.
The Ouanos will be constrained to support Sitoy as a matter of parity since Joy Ouano, the mayor’s sister, is running for Congress in the sixth district against Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz. Sitoy is the father of Mayor Arleigh of Cordova.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is willing to let his police escorts go to comply with a Philippine National Police (PNP) directive prohibiting the use of police escorts by candidates in the coming elections. |
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