Friday, February 29, 2008 Ledesma: Avoidance By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
I DO not think that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is snubbing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the light of the botched shady broadband deal with ZTE.
He might be recoiling inside at the manner with which characters identified with the President attempted to make a fast buck from the ZTE contract but that's all in the day of the President's life.
The mayor, am sure, like the rest of us, is sick because in the attempt to cover up the truth their bungling ways merely give the impression that all that Jun Lozada had said are the gospel truth.
I, too, am certain that Mayor Duterte will avoid the President like plague just because her name is dragged into the controversy.
Not that fast anyway. It is not in the character of Duterte to abandon an ally like he was abandoned, implicated in the murder of block-time announcer Ferdie Lintuan, and investigated by the Commission on Audit on suspicion of mishandling funds for the People's Park and Task Force Davao.
In effect, you cannot blame the Dutertes for leaving the President alone with her local allies that she feels she is comfortable to be with. With some cases still unresolved and still being investigated, I do not think that Mayor Duterte would cuddle close to the President without being suspected that he is seeking "divine intervention" from her.
And so the avoidance will continue until the issues are cleared. The present upheaval is merely coincidental. Without it anyway the mayor will still take the first plane out to Manila for his "check-up" or off to China for a sisterhood pact if again and again PGMA will come to the city.
BTW, I have the suspicion that President Arroyo were misled by Department of Public Works and Highways into believing that Bankerohan Bridge was destroyed because of calamitous event to justify the contract by negotiation and not by bidding.
Even she is saying that the bridge will cost P216 million. This is up by P10 million from the lowest bid (Ciriaco). The contractor, as shown by the abstract of bid, submitted a quotation of P206-million. Again the president is dragged into controversy because some people have such an insatiable avarice they change figures as often as they change their shirts. Where will the P10-million go?
Problem here is that the President have no time to talk with the local media. She treats everyone like a suspect. In her recent trip she sashayed here and there and finding no Duterte around flew in a huff to Manila. Can't blame her. She has to man the fort.
