More on JDV and his bio-book

By Gonzalo Duque

IT isn’t bad at all to read from time to time the analyses and interpretations of seer Jojo Acuin of events especially those that have yet to happen.

There are really gifted people who can know in advance what will happen. We may not agree with him completely, but knowing his track record in crystal ball reading, we should not ignore his special talents.

We think Gina de Venecia must be a fan of Jojo Acuin. In the biography book for Joe de V, there’s a section which says that Gina can read the character of people that they deal with. She could tell, according to the book, if a person is good or bad.

Sana naman pasado tayo kay Gina. Kasi kahit tayo ay critical kung minsan, ay wala tayong hidden agenda. What you see and hear is what you get, ika nga. We hope Manong Joe won’t mind if we write anew about his book because it has brought up certain points we have wanted to highlight. First, we wish to thank him for inviting us to grace his book’s launch. We were raring to go, but we realized baka kalabisan na tayo doon. We read in the papers that it was a star-studded affair.

Last week, we wrote here that we fought the congressman twice and lost twice. Hindi nalagay sa bio book ni Manong Joe yon. In our first fight, we beat him in San Jacinto and we were almost even in Manaoag. We lost heavily in Dagupan, Mangaldan and San Fabian. Serge Moulic gave him good fight in Mangaldan. It was a four cornered fight that included Judge Oscar Fernandez, former ConCon Delegate Numeriano Tanopo and Mr. Moulic. We came out a fighting second. The major issues we raised were mostly on the behest loans.

Then we fought him again. But in the second encounter, kasama na niya si FVR, kaya medyo nagrelax relax muna tayo. We did most our campaigning socializing with our beerkadas. You know what happened.

Since we could not match his logistical organization plus parami ng parami ang mga FVR boys na nagtatapik sa atin to take it easy, yon, in the middle of the campaign, nag-celebrate na tayo ng glorious defeat.

It should also be worth noting that his devastating fight with Benjie Lim was not mentioned in the bio book. Did the author mean those episodes in his life were non events? But in that encounter with Benjie, we in the Duque Clan supported Mr. de Venecia because he was with the administration.

What we are saying is that in a man’s odyssey in life, certain facets such as those that involved hundreds, thousands of people should not be ignored. We took our two defeats in good stride because we learned a lot from the encounters with a political mogul. We considered our experience in the congressional races moments of a lifetime. Bale wala kay Manong Joe, but to us, they were memorable. We learned humility, how to duck, how to consolidate forces, how to read (like Gina) a man’s character, we learned timing, we learned that defeat, once accepted, is soul-liberating, maturing, and “wisening.”

After a while, we really wished Manong Joe would conclude his life in politics in a nice and graceful way. We wish him the best of luck in the New Year and years to come.

* * *

In the mind of Acuin, year 2009 won’t be a walk in the park. The political prism is very foreboding. Force backing GMA will not stop in pushing for charter change as their own vehicle for continued political power.

And on the other side, the opposition will not also stop pressuring GMA to give up the presidency. Ang mabuti diyan, if you ask us, is to let her finish her term gracefully.

And let’s not encourage her allies to ram down our throats the charter change scheme.

We, too, are against it if it should mean violating our constitutional rights.

At itong mga taga opposition naman, please stop acting like you were all virtuous and Gloria was all vice. Naman, naman maghunos dili kayo, mas masahol pa ata kayo e. Please do something good for the country also na pwedeng ipagmalaki nga ating mga anak.

* * *

We want to felicitate the Lyceum Northwestern U Alumni for their very successful grand reunion recently. Ditto with City Administrator Alvin Fernandez, president of the alumni association, for showing class and charismatic leadership, having steered the association to move in unison and enthusiasm. Mabuhay ka, Alvin.

Your demonstrated leadership is now a far cry from the spoiled brat we thought you to be. Shall we do a Cory for having been critical once? Nope. Because we did it as a brotherly act.

Now you are ready to become mayor of the city, ay, with erpat’s permission, of course, and oh yes, VM Belen, too. Ano ba yan?

(Readers may reach columnist at punch.sunday@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/playing-with-fire/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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