IT’S no April surprise, as in the October surprise in U.S. elections. It’s not even a surprise anymore since it has been rumored since the start of this election season: about business tycoon Norberto Quisumbing Jr. (NQ) not supporting his grandson Luigi’s reelection bid for mayor in Mandaue City and endorsing instead the mayor’s rival Rep. Jonas Cortes.
But this time rumor becomes fact. Or, as one must be be cautious on these matters, the appearance of fact.
One-two-three wallop
NQ publicly released Wednesday (April 24) a statement bearing his signature telling the Mandaue voters and the Cebu public that:
[1] He does not support his grandson Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing, incumbent mayor, and instead he “puts his vote and now supports” Cortes and the rest of the congressman’s Team Mandaue.
[2] Luigi “no longer deserves to be mayor” because he has been “corrupted by greed and influence” and “is now managing Mandaue City wrongly in every way.” The mayor has also “chosen to delve into dirty politics, character assassination and negative campaigning.”
[3] Luigi did not show NQ the respect due to a grandfather and the Quisumbing family when the mayor shut down the Sentral Bar & Lounge owned by Kyle Bravante, son of NQ’s daughter Pinky, allegedly without hearing the side of aggrieved parties. NQ virtually called Luigi an ungrateful brat who got more from him than other family members because of his several forays into elected office.
It was a one-two-three slam on Luigi’s face by his grandfather. And that must really hurt, on both assailant and victim.
The personal stuff
One may sift through NQ’s statement to focus on the personal reason for cutting off Luigi in this election. Luigi closed down the bar owned by his aunt Pinky’s son, would not listen to their side, the enterprise lost about P10 million, and tarnished the family reputation by circulating in social media a drugs matrix that linked the bar owners to the party drug Ecstasy.
Or so NQ alleged in his statement.
The personal stuff must be the reason for NQ to conclude that Luigi has been “corrupted by greed and influence.” He didn’t cite anything else to support that; nor did he give even broad strokes to prop up the accusation that his grandson is “managing Mandaue City wrongly in every way.”
Not the time and place for that as NQ was mostly explaining his personal decision.
Impact on voters
Impact of the NQ rejection of Luigi and his embrace of grandson’s opponent Jonas must be devastating. The Cortes camp has been harping on it for sometime already, even before NQ’s public announcement on Wednesday. “If his own grandpa finds Luigi repulsive, how much more the voters of Mandaue,” thus runs the propaganda line.
There must be reason for Luigi’s public conduct of governance. Apparently, he wanted to show that even family members are not above the law. And Luigi did say the axiom in his grandpa’s public face Thursday (April 25): “No one is above the law.” The bar was suspected to be linked with illegal drugs; it was already being watched by law enforcers.
But obviously Luigi failed to explain that to NQ and other concerned family members. He must have expected them to understand and assumed that blood is thicker than water, MCWD or bottled. NQ’s sideswipe about Luigi not even thanking him, for each successful campaign the businessman helped finance, must say a lot.
Dumping the rules
This, to be sure, is no ordinary situation requiring damage control under regular conditions. The campaign “earthquake” is far enough from election day and yet may not be close enough: less than 20 days. Would it influence undecided voters or change the mind of those already committed to vote for one or the other? Clearly, it was timed to achieve maximum effect.
The Luigi camp cannot strike back at the grandpa without worsening the damage. But neither can the Cortes camp gloat over the family fracture without sounding insensitive and manipulative. On second thought, each can. And yes, issue on the bar’s shutdown may be even given fuller airing.
Both camps have dumped a lot of rules on right conduct since the campaign started. And the stakes on winning have soared. A few more violations might come easy.