THE recent meeting between members of the Provincial Board and leaders of Pampanga's civil society indicates the growing isolation of Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio from his mass-based constituency.
The meeting can be considered a critical turning point in political alliance in the province, significantly tilting the balance of clout and power against the priest-governor. Now, there are the board members, mayors and civil society leaders on one side. Panlilio is left, practically alone, on the other.
Certainly, this new equation portends more difficult days ahead.
The civil society leaders may have given up any hope in pushing for their own agenda for reforms and developments in the province with Panlilio as a rallying point.
Their meeting with the board members shows they are willing to take their chances with an alternative leadership in the province to provide a way forward.
Their crossover move may prove not only dramatic but decisive.
The emerging alliance can put the governor on the corner, so to speak, rendering him irrelevant and inconsequential as an elected leader of the province.
That reality is now taking shape and may be irreversible, providing a powerful impetus for hostile political forces to run him out of office.
One adverse campaign that will get energized is the much-ballyhooed recall which is probably quietly in the works.
Undoubtedly, those who have been pushing for recall will be encouraged by the steady erosion of Panlilio's support base.
It is also possible that the civil society groups may be enlisted to force Panlilio out of the provincial Capitol.
Panlilio's political survival is definitely now at risk more than ever.
Unless he finds a way to get the civil society strongly back on his side again, the governor might need another miracle to keep himself in office, at least until 2010.
For that to conceivably happen, a number of things have to be done vis-à-vis the civil society's unflinching demands.
One of them, unfortunately, involves getting his controversial provincial administrator, lawyer Vivian Dabu, out of the way.
For the civil society, it's take-it-or-leave it condition. By his responses, verbal and otherwise, Panlilio has indicated that he has no plans of obliging them.
Can Panlilio effectively lead the province now with only Dabu at his side while everyone else is jumping overboard?
How long can he survive the loss of trust and confidence in his leadership?
