General Admission
JDV for President
By Al S. Mendoza
SEEMINGLY, Joe de Venecia is a totally different political animal in that he is forever shadowed by events reserved for immortals.
I can’t believe this man.
By just simply launching his book – one that should be a hands-down international best-seller, I must insist – JDV has triggered a national storm of sorts.
For one, Erap grabbed the occasion to unload a bomb of tectonic origins: Forgive the masterminds of his ouster from power in 2001.
For another, Erap’s eruption caught everybody by surprise.
Isn’t surprise the best attack of all time?
His explosiveness is very much alive and kicking.
It was so powerful it must have reduced to a whimper the deadly Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.
It was the mother of all explosions, much powerful than the fireworks in Binay’s Makati or New York City’s Times Square on New Year’s Day.
It was so well-timed – the aim of hitting its intended target scoring a bull’s-eye.
One of the masterminds that plotted Erap’s ouster in 2001 was none other than Tita Cory, the simple housewife thrust to Malacanang by the bloodless Edsa Revolution in 1986.
Tita Cory, present in all her might and splendor, stoic almost at all times, finally melted under the pressure.
Who said Asiong Salonga’s spellbinding wit is dead?
In an instant, Tita Cory bit the bait.
At the podium, right after Erap was done with his repertoire, Tita Cory said, “I am asking for forgiveness from Erap for my role in Edsa 2001.”
That was all that mattered that afternoon at The Podium in Mandaluyong City.
Hers is a drawing power that lasts forever. What Tita Cory says, until now, is grist for news, hot topic for barbershop talk.
The next morning, the nation woke up to headlines screaming of Tita Cory’s pitch for Erap.
It was all a joke?
Tita Cory simply played along with Erap, who was also joking when he said in his speech he was forgiving Tita Cory & Co. for their unsavory roles in 2001?
Deedee Sytangco, Tita Cory’s spokesperson, said Tita Cory’s piece was meant as a joke.
Alas, nobody bought that line.
Everybody seems tired of jokes, Joc-Joc and everything.
This was no time for ribbing.
This was time for reconciliation.
Everything’s been engulfed by the tongues of fire only the likes of a Tita Cory is capable of unleashing since her husband, Ninoy, was felled by assassin’s bullets in 1983 at the airport.
At times, times change as quickly as when fortunes swing like pendulums from one side to the other.
Thus, the fortunes of JDV are such that, for one, who could ever possibly surpass – if not equal – his feat of being the House Speaker five times?
I submit he’s down right now. But I tell you, he’ll never be down — and out, as in a knockout.
Like the proverbial phoenix, JDV will rise again, his wings flapping mightily past the tallest trees of Sierra Madre.
JDV for president in 2010?
Why not?
With Erap as JDV’s running mate, who could top that tandem?
