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Making Mar win
posted January 07, 2016 at 12:01 am by
Emil Jurado
PRESIDENT Aquino’s biggest worry when he steps down from Malacañang in July 30 will be the many criminal and civil cases he will face during his six-year reign.
I have been told that a group of legal luminaries and some justices have already consolidated the cases to be thrown against BS Aquino III as soon as he leaves Malacañang. They are not necessarily identified with any political group but they reportedly have been meeting regularly for the past years.
It is precisely for this reason, my sources say, that BS Aquino III will do everything possible—even cheat in next year’s election—to ensure that administration candidate Mar Roxas wins.
I’m not into conspiracy theories, but logic and reason dictate that knowing the inevitable, BS Aquino cannot just sit by and await the many charges against him. These could even land him in jail.
A sitting President still has awesome powers he can use to ensure the victory of his anointed candidate, that’s for sure. There’s still the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines or PCOS. If they did it in 2010 and 2013, Santa Banana, Comelec can do it again. There are still many “little Garcis” at the Comelec, I am told.
In my column yesterday, I brought up the news report that the Department of Budget and Management led by BS Aquino III’s clone, Secretary Butch Abad, and budget officials had said that 90 percent of the over P3-trillion national budget had already been released. This is allegedly to beef up long-delayed infrastructure spending. They said the release was authorized by the General Appropriations Act itself. The practice before was to wait for the Special Allotment Release Order.
My gulay, this means that the Aquino administration will be flooding the country with cash for the benefit of Mar Roxas!
If politicians on the other side of the political fence are not worried, I am. Funding at the grassroots level will make all the difference. This is the be-all and end-all of national and local elections.
We should not discount the fact that there are some devious people around Roxas and among the Liberal Party who know how to win elections. With him lagging behind in poll surveys, the President and his propaganda team cannot just sit by and watch him lose.
Aren’t the powers of the president awesome?
Of course, BS Aquino III and the Liberal Party know they are playing with fire in frustrating the will of the people. But political survival is foremost in their minds, especially for BS Aquino III, who certainly knows what he will be facing once he steps down.
What worries me more is the possibility of the country being pushed over the edge once the people find out their will is frustrated.
* * *
I have been monitoring the political statements of Mrs. Mary Grace Natividad Kelly Poe Llamanzares in her campaign trail. I have noticed that while she has been critical of Mar Roxas’ stint as a public official, especially as former transportation secretary, she has not said any word against BS Aquino III.
And now, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay and 10 others of the OSG are lawyering for her. They are supposedly the top lawyers of the government.
I find this rather strange since Hilbay had been asked by the Comelec to lawyer for it in the case filed by Mrs. Llamanzares before the Supreme Court to junk her disqualification by the Comelec.
Last year, my Palace sources intimated to me that when BS Aquino III had those one-on-one meetings with Mrs. Llamanzares, supposedly to convince her to be the running mate of Mar, what actually ensued was the President making her an alternative candidate just in case Mar loses.
The reason for this is that BS Aquino III wants to ensure that Mrs. Llamanzares would protect him. “Naniniguro si Presidente!” my sources said.
In other words, BS Aquino is riding on two horses to ensure a win. Smart, huh? Only a desperate man can think of it.
What BS Aquino III forgets is “karma.” Whatever goes around will inevitably come around.
* * *
President Aquino may now be getting some flak from media, print and broadcast. That is to be expected since he has only five more months to go until he steps down.
Mr. Aquino, however, knows that he enjoys the undying support of the two largest media outfits, The Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN. In business, BS Aquino III has also the support of the Makati Business Club and the Ayalas, who have always supported the late President Cory Aquino.
But what I find rather strange, even ironic, is that the Inquirer took over from the underground Mr. and Mrs., then published by Inquirer founder Eggie Apostol, but was being financed by then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile during Martial Law days.
It was because of this that the late Chief of Staff Fabian Ver suspected JPE of undermining the Marcos dictatorship.
As a result, to defend himself, Enrile had then Col. Greg Honasan form the RAM (Revolutionary Armed Forces Movement) go on training until the right time to act. The rest is history, as they say.
The point I am leading to is that during the more than five years of this administration, he had the two biggest media organizations, not counting conscripted opinion writers and columnists singing paeans to the President, on his side.
In other words, BS Aquino III cannot complain that media was unkind to him. Presidents before him did not have the advantage that he had. This is why his acceptance and popularity ratings did not decline as much.
* * *
The biggest challenge that the next president will certainly face more than anything else is the horrendous and nightmarish traffic gridlock in Metro Manila, especially along Edsa.
I am forever an optimist, seeing the glass half-full, not half-empty. I say this because some 10 years ago I used to go often to Bangkok, Thailand where the traffic jams were much worse than what we now have along Edsa.
During those years, it took me more than two hours, sometimes three to negotiate the airport of Bangkok to my hotel.
Relief came when some enterprising Bangkok residents offered portable urinals to passengers and motorists caught in traffic. That’s how bad it was.
Now, in Bangkok, it’s a pleasure negotiating traffic with so many expressways and an efficient mass transit system.
That’s why I also believe Metro Manila’s traffic problem can be solved with enough imagination and of course, with the necessary political will.
What we need here in the Philippines is the implementation of what they call 3 Es in traffic management—Education, Engineering and Enforcement.
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Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others He who envies others does not achieve peace. - Buddha
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