Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Malilong: Advice to Teddy O By Frank Malilong Jr. The Other Side
IT’S now official: Loren Legarda is running under the opposition while Tessie Aquino-Oreta has cast her lot with the administration in this year’s race for the Senate.
So the lady who, in 2000, unabashedly wept when the Senate voted not to open the second envelope in the Estrada impeachment trial is now basking in the warmth and comfort of his political embrace while the one who shamelessly danced for the same reason that the other cried has found temporary shelter in the tent of the person who benefited most from that episode. If you needed proof of the highly opportunistic nature of Philippine politics and its practitioners, you couldn’t have found a more compelling one than this.
Francis Pangilinan, another refugee and, with Manuel Villar, a last-minute arrival in the Erap camp, was reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer to have described the situation as confusing. “Those in the administration were previously in the opposition, and those in the opposition now were in the administration before,” Sharon’s husband was quoted as saying. “I would not be able to explain that to my children.”
Simple. Just tell the kids that the other side is where the butter is for your bread. They’ll most probably not understand because they’re still young. But wait until they have grown and lost all innocence and they will readily see that there is wisdom, not opportunism, in surrendering your values and principles to political realities.
Speaking of values, industrialist Norberto Quisumbing Jr. gave us a glimpse of the ones that he holds dear when he spoke about dealing with the possible loss of his title as “adopted son of Mandaue.”
I don’t think I have met him but I’m beginning to like this man they simply refer to as NQ, who compared wearing a title to wearing a hat or a shirt. It does not change your soul or your heart, Quisumbing told Sun.Star Cebu, adding that one’s character and personality remain “regardless of whether you wear these clothes or not, whether you have this title or not.” Now, only a man of depth and substance can say that.
The title may not mean much to Quisumbing but it will cost Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano a lot of goodwill if he withdraws it. The move smacks of pettiness. I hope the mayor can rise higher than his personal feeling of wounded pride. Or has he forgotten the saying that “pride cometh before the fall?”
Ouano is no longer a candidate in May but his son Jonkie is. And whether he likes it or not, Jonkie will always be regarded as his father’s surrogate, so that anyone who bears a grudge against the elder Ouano will take it against his son.
A smart politician does not expand his circle of enemies. As it is, Ouano already has enough problems dealing with his own kin. His sister Joy and brother Paeng have remained adamant in refusing to endorse Jonkie despite the efforts of the clan’s patriarch, former mayor Pedong Ouano, to reconcile his children.
From what I have heard, Joy is only waiting for the mayor to approach her but pride has kept him from doing that, sending instead his wife and a daughter to make amends with her. You can imagine what harm it will do Jonkie’s candidacy if either Joy or Paeng decides to run for mayor. The Ouanos could end up losing City Hall especially if Quisumbing decides to “finish the fight” as he threatened, if he is pushed to the wall.
Swallow your pride, Mayor and make peace with Quisumbing and your siblings. Your son deserves no less.
