Thursday, May 03, 2007 Ledesma: A shameless assertion By Jun Ledesma
MAYOR RODY Duterte is tickled pink by one of the latest issues that surfaced quoting a tail-ender candidate in the third congressional district who claimed that she is being endorsed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
What triggers this election comedy is a "praise" release of the camp of perennial candidate and three-time loser Sonja Rodriguez which claimed that only when she wins that Malacanang will release P280-million for the 3rd district.
This claim sounded like a vain attempt to sway votes. But Mayor Rody is not buying this preposterous assertion. He finds it incredulous that President Arroyo will make that promise. Especially to one who cannot even win a barangay election. Arroyo is politically astute otherwise she will not get to the political totem pole where she is securely ensconced.
What is sad here is that, Sonja makes bad image of President Arroyo. Plain common sense will tell us, that no person in her right sense, even if she is president, will make a gargantuan promise as huge as P280-million once a protégé is elected.
Mayor Rody is worried, not for Sid Ungab who is his personal and Hugpong's choice for congressional seat in the 3rd district but for the damage that Sonja’s incredible claim will cause on the image of President Arroyo.
Who is Sonja Rodriguez to deserve such special treatment from Malacanang?
Can President Arroyo afford to lose the personal friendship and political support of one of the few leaders in the country that enjoy an overwhelming popularity of their political constituents?
Sonja knows, although Mayor Duterte knows better, that GMA is in complete control of her sense and political sensibilities. That claim of Malacanang support for her (Sonja's) candidacy therefore is nothing but an incredible, childish and whimsical strategy to win votes with President Arroyo as her sacrificial goat.
This is nothing different from the insidious campaign scheme being employed by the camp of Yayong Gementiza in Davao del Norte. I was in Tagum the other day to ascertain what I heard that Yayong has been spreading intrigues that he is being supported by Antonio Floirendo.
Well what do you know?! The rumor mill in Tagum in fact churns out gossips as quickly as any one can absorb. But one ugly version there is that Yayong had commercialized his politics. If I were to quote somebody who looks like Nick Suaybaguio, "negosyo dili serbisyo ang pamolitika ni Yayong."
The other odd thing is that Yayong is making the incredible claim that he, not Dolfo del Rosario, is the one being supported by the Floirendos and isn't this comic and whimsical too?
When you see the PR and community relations people of the Floirendo empire moving heaven and earth to push the candidacy of Dolfo, you will find it quaint that Gementiza can make the stupid assertion.
Oh well, there maybe one or two in the organization who have no love for Dolfo, but that does not mean that Don Antonio Floirendo who, everybody knows makes the final mandate, will undermine his most trusted man in the corporate and political affairs.
Just how fast Yayong's spin-master can make an issue of Dolfo's absence in the Caracoles event in Samal Island is the 8th wonder of the world. Truth to tell, Dolfo had a daylong consultation with Don Antonio Floirendo in Tadeco. Anflo wants to hear first hand from Dolfo how his campaign is going on and what his plans are the moment he goes back to the provincial capitol.
Bishop Wilfredo Manlapaz was there and so was everybody who matters in the family, corporate and political affairs, including Inday, Dolfo's first lady. If only the good bishop can talk; but his presence alone in a family council meeting with Dolfo and Anflo is enough proof to dispel the lies that Yayong and his boys are spreading.
But you know, I find the posturing of Gementiza rather odd. He has metamorphosed into a different kind of political species from the normal that what he used to be. He is campaigning tooth and nail for the opposition candidates but he claims friendship with the provincial leadership of Lakas CMD who are pushing the candidacy of Team Unity. How do you make out of a person with that character?
Like Sonja Rodriguez who tarnishes the image of GMA in Duterte country, Yayong in the Floirendo-Del Rosario domain, is causing mix signal which is not of any help at all to the corporate interest of the Floirendo empire. Sonja and Yayong are in dire strait to win and like a raging bull in a china shop make irreparable havoc in the process -regardless of who gets hurt.
