Monday, June 30, 2008 Mercado: Lina Bagasina for Vice Governor? By Ram Mercado
I CAN imagine Senator Lito Lapid rejoicing quietly while gulping his umpteenth bottle of San Miguel beer, along with friends and his factotums at his Porac enclave.
The senator just cannot stop thinking of his continuing luck in his local political career as things keep turning out to favor his unspoken desire to get back to the Capitol.
Expect a three-cornered fight again for the governorship in 2010. The competing teams, albeit a different line-up for two camps, will be a reprise of the last polls.
Governor Ed Panlilio, Sen. Lapid, and most probably Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda are the chief contenders. Although an incumbent governor, Among Ed with all the bashing he has sustained; remains the underdog. If I can read his mind, the Gov is convinced that his cabalen -- or most of them, anyway, will stick to him due to his avowed aim of good governance.
Lapid, the elder, has no bailiwick except the thousands of fans and supporters who have fanatically stood with him in all his four campaigns from vice governor to governor, for no other reason that they love the man.
I say he must be quaffing his beer with glee as the governor is being attacked left and right, with certain negative effects to his reelection. While Panlilio and the Pineda camps would be stealing people support from each other, Lapid's mesmerized followers will stay intact, that has been proven in the past.
The Pineda's vaunted resources will not illimitable, not all their wealth can saturate the grassroots areas and benefit every voter. Having tasted the beneficial returns of being bought, the voter by next elections would be demanding a higher price. This will spread the fund logistics very thinly in the province.
The Palace must be thinking of ways how to prevent Lito Lapid from running for governor. The senator is not really happy in the Senate. He may find the remuneration a considerable for his material well-being but not a source of fulfillment and genuine joy.
There is wishful thinking that the Pinedas could just field a strong contender in waiting -- Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao. The thought goes against pragmatic logic: why spend their millions on Guiao when Mayor Dennis Pineda is capable and qualified for the position? He only needs to smile often and be articulate. Amiable but not as generous as the Million Dollar Baby (her mother) he has a lovely and talented wife, the mayor of Sta. Rita.
At this juncture, unseating Among Ed is a viable option of his foes. I foresee a recall move taking shape. Looking at the direction from where Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo is talking, I can also smell gunpowder, and hear distant drums.
Mayor Jerry is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's most trusted political leader in the region. When he speaks unofficially on an issue it has the effect of an imprimatur from his superiors.
The Bird Man of Candaba has strong points in his case against Governor Ed. Except that of his timing, the mayors league's spokesman is on the right track. Asking Panlilio's resignation now is like retrieving dead bodies inside the Romblon ferry. Toxic elements obstruct the retrieval.
It is lamentable that Pelayo's tirade, and the collected ululations of his group against the former priest, came immediately after Panlilio filed a case of plunder against the father of the Mayors League president.
Pampangos take the united action of the mayors as a knee-jerk defense reaction to Mayor Dennis's old man, "industry" leader Bong Pineda. I can swear on Bro. Ely Soriano's bible that Mayor Jerry, among the mayors present in a historic photo recently taken after their supposed prayers for divine intervention with the ex-priest, is not on the take on jueteng money. As to the rest, well...
All the mayors in the photo come from localities where jueteng under the guise of small-town lottery (STL) is rampant and flourishing.
But their assembly was only incidental and coincidental to the objective of demanding the ouster of the Gov. The timing of Pelayo's tirade and the PML's demand for Panlilio's resignation is suspect, if not reproachable, giving rise to thoughts among cabalen that the PML is a front organization of the "industry."
That is the biggest handicap of the possible gubernatorial contender Dennis Pineda who is the mayor's league president. Any endorsement of support, pledge of loyalty, and vow of devotion by the mayors may be misunderstood as their tact obligation to protect the family's interests.
Is Pelayo's renewed salvo against Panlilio the signal of a recall move soon?
Similar though disparate actions from suspect Presidential nuisance candidate Elly Velez Pamatong, along with ADCL's Rene Romero's own firing of ballistic missiles, contributes to the converging efforts to unseat Panlilio. In a recall election, if ever, Among Ed is still unsinkable, not now.
*****
I wish to greet a special friend -- former Sasmuan mayor now Board Member Lina Bagasina who celebrated her birthday June 28. A celebrant on the same day (Saturday) was Representative Tarzan Lazatin, 74, whose natal affair at Stotsenberg Hotel carried the motif "Growin' Strong."
(Malakas talaga si Cong, nakakapagpa-resign ng mga opisyales, haha!)
Guests and friends of BM Lina who trooped to Sasmuan to join her lavish party created traffic bottleneck on the highway junction going to the Poblacion area going to the party held in Sta. Cruz. That describes or speaks of the birthday girl's popularity, power, and wide network of support.
Media invitees asked BM Lina what was her most significant achievement in life. She answered: "When I was given the opportunity to serve God more through my services to my constituents as mayor of the town." Another pride was her Global Award as Ulirang Ina for outstanding achievement as mother and family matriarch.
What more does she aspire in life? "That with God's blessings given me, I can be part and parcel of, a little instrument in achieving genuine economic recovery and progress, not only in my beloved Sasmuan but of Pampanga, as well and that of the country."
Asked what and how she sees Sasmuan in five years, she said: "I want my town to be a quiet, peaceful and progressive town; where love and prosperity bless my townspeople along with our sustainable growth."
Several municipal officials, in whispers, encouraged BM Lina, who built her fortune in a nationwide forwarding company and fishponds, to be vice governor-running mate of who (guess?) Among Ed in 2010! Look at that.
