GOVERNOR Eddie T. Panlilio and Vice Governor Joseller "Yeng" Guiao have agreed to talk after bashing each other on the issue of performance one year after in office and practically ignoring each other.
This is good news only in the sense that it conveys the good feeling that civility, after all, is not lost yet on these two top provincial officials that seem like more comfortable at throwing bricks at each other than anything else.
The public could also look at this not-so-new development as a burning flare of hope whose afterglow might possibly illuminate a better path for cooperative and harmonious partnership in governance at the Provincial Capitol.
The bad news is that this kind of talk had been done before.
And, given this new round of public face off, there doesn't seem to be much to expect in terms of a radical change in the continually deteriorating relationship between the governor and the vice governor and the Provincial Board.
The possibility is always there that it could get worse before it could get better.
It can be recalled that prior to their first face-off, the issues primarily were on appointments and the governor's alleged disregard for protocol, plus other administrative issues.
After that meeting, done in public and televised for everyone to see live and in replay, there was not only little in terms of encouraging results. Worse, the two leaders have gone as far as haling each other in court for a number of reasons that could result in one of them – possibly Panlilio - going to jail or losing his public office.
The oft-quoted caveat that talk is cheap doesn't seem to bother both of them as they have expressed openness to another round of talks.
The public then can only wait in ambivalence, a mixture of hope and frustration, when these two leaders will sit down and talk important things over in the spirit of democracy, service and good governance.
It is important that they do not lose sight – again - of the real and most important reason why they are supposed to do that in the first place. And that is to live up to the highest expectation of the Kapampangan electorate for having placed them in their respective offices.
