Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Malilong: Defensor in Cebu By Frank Malilong Jr. The Other Side
IF MIKE Defensor doesn’t watch out, he might as well kiss his Senate hopes goodbye. A number of people say they’re turned off by Defensor’s hard sell. So young and so trapo, one of them, shaking his head, told me yesterday.
Defensor’s presence during the Sinulog festival last Sunday did nothing to help his image. That was the first time, as far as I can remember, that he came here for the celebration and he made it all too obvious.
Chavit Singson, another Senate hopeful, came with Defensor but he didn’t draw as much criticism for using the Sinulog as a campaign platform as the former Cabinet official. I think it had to do with the fact that while the people know that Singson is a traditional politician, they thought that Defensor was of a different mold.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with candidates selling themselves through the Sinulog. I mean if it is acceptable for companies to advertise their products during the street parade, why should it be taboo to people trying to take advantage of the festival’s commercial opportunity?
Defensor could have mounted a float for the entire duration of the walk that ended at the Cebu City Sports Complex and I couldn’t have cared. If a company that sells hog feeds can load a pair of overweight human beings on its truck to deliver a not-so-subliminal message, why can’t a candidate, especially if he is as pleasant-looking as Defensor, climb up so he could sell his virtues with the same lack of subtlety?
I think the problem lies deeper than making oneself and his intentions obvious (don’t all politicians?) during a religious activity. In the first place, the Sinulog, the one that takes place on the Sunday after the procession, is not a religious event; never has been.
Sorry about that, Your Eminence. But the Sinulog is all about merry-making. It is about attracting tourists, making money and more money. It has very little to do with faith, if at all.
Back to Defensor, I remember that only very recently he said that the temporary release of deposed President Erap Estrada would be (if it isn’t yet) part of his campaign platform. The announcement was clearly aimed at winning over Erap’s supporters.
Defensor should make up his mind. If he thinks that he could not win as an administration candidate, he should move over to the opposition. He cannot have the best of both worlds.
If he really wanted justice to be done to Estrada, he could have used the influence of his office, when he was a member of the Arroyo Cabinet, to expedite the former President’s trial so that he could be released if found innocent.
If he was not able to do that, he should not make up for his failure by proposing a sellout just to assure his own political future. As the private prosecutors in the Estrada impeachment trial said in a recent statement, Erap’s “plunder case is not a commodity to be bartered or bargained with anyone for political survival or personal comfort.”
I hope Defensor had time to pause for some reflection in between his hand-shaking activities last Sunday. The Sto. Niño is well known to give discernment to those who ask for it. And He isn’t known to discriminate against accidental supplicants, meaning those who came here for a different purpose.
We have a word for those who try to ride on two horses: swapang. I’m sure Defensor doesn’t relish the tag. I hope the Sto. Niño has taught him how to avoid earning it.
