Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Malilong: Bungled opportunity for Cuenco By Frank Malilong The Other Side
THERE goes our dream of having the first Cebuano speaker of the House of Representatives since the great Sergio Osmeña.
Pablo Garcia is a bar topnotcher and respected constitutionalist but his impeccable credentials did not serve him well, if at all, in his bid to wrest the House leadership from Pangasinan’s Jose de Venecia. If this were boxing, our man lasted only up to the first round.
In a way, the result was not surprising, Joe de V being famous for being the ultimate master in the art of making compromises and forging alliances. Not that the former Cebu governor and his backers are wanting in political savvy themselves; they were simply outclassed and outfoxed by craftier opponents.
It would not be totally accurate, however, to credit de Venecia’s victory or, to put it another way, to ascribe Garcia’s defeat to de Venecia alone. Surely, a number of lessons can be learned from Garcia’s aborted bid, lessons that could be helpful in his next stab at the speakership, if there is going to be any.
For example, Garcia’s camp has to find out why his candidacy has failed to galvanize the eight-man Cebu contingent in the House for him. In fact, only two, aside from Garcia and his son Pablo John (PJ), out of the eight committed themselves to Garcia’s cause: Nerissa Soon Ruiz and Benhur Salimbangon of the sixth and fourth districts, respectively.
Soon Ruiz reportedly wept when she learned that she would no longer be able to deliver her nomination speech for Garcia, a problem that never occurred to Cebu City South Rep. Tony Cuenco, upon whom was vested the (dubious?) honor of nominating de Venecia.
If his purpose was to deliver the coup de grace to Garcia, de Venecia couldn’t have made a better choice for messenger than in Cuenco. Little wonder the usually articulate PJ Garcia was left groping for words while his father could only mutter, “Napakasit, Kuya Tony.”
We all know, of course, that Tony would not have won re-election had it not been for Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña. Thus, it would have been awkward if he supported Garcia, knowing Osmena’s bitter feud with Gov. Gwen Garcia, Pablo’s daughter.
But a man with Cuenco’s wealth of political acumen and experience would have known better than to consent to being an accomplice in the shaming of a fellow Cebuano on the House floor. And certainly, not after he allegedly promised to vote for Garcia, not once but twice.
Cuenco would later explain that he promised to vote for his province mate only if the elections were done by secret ballot and that he agreed to nominate de Venecia only after it became clear that Garcia had counted himself out of the contest.
But having witnessed the acrimonious exchange between the two camps a few minutes earlier, wouldn’t it have been more prudent if he had declined and not added insult to injury?
And why would he cast his lot with Garcia only if his vote was kept secret? In making this assertion, did he not open himself to suspicion that he actually promised support to both sides and wanted to mask this duplicity in anonymity?
Garcia failed to become speaker but Cuenco bungled his opportunity to become a statesman. Guess whose loss is bigger.
