Playing with Fire
LP on the upswing
By Gonzalo Duque
DON’T get us wrong. Just because we wrote nice things about Manny Villar should not mean we were rooting for him as a presidential wannabe.
We received some text messages, presumably from the Villar camp, expressing dismay over our last column which played up the emergence of Mar Roxas or Noynoy Aquino of the Liberal Party as logical presidential team in 2010.
The fact is, we are merely reporting what we see in the horizon, and in fact, we even cited the phenomenal popularity of Erap Estrada as topping lately the surveys.
As of this writing, on Ninoy Aquino Day, the mood of the nation was the national hero himself, and so as we coast along, we could smell a developing and probably unstoppable phenomenon — the reemergence of the Liberal Party, as the proverbial maker of presidents.
We even foresee the dramatic rise of an Aquino, yes, Noynoy in the political firmament, showcasing the Filipino people’s undying love for Ninoy and yes, Tita Cory, who has captured everyone’s hearts.
Our people, you see, have been looking for a savior, a political messiah, and they tend to see it — and correctly — in an Aquino, which, unlike most politicians, has not been tainted with graft.
We are delighted by this because at heart, we are a Liberal. The Roxases and the Aquinos know this, including Mar and Noynoy, because we ran for vice governor as an LP under then the Salonga wing, and won.
We used to visit Mar’s mother, the grand lady of the party, Judy Araneta Roxas, at the Roxas residence, and she knows till now that we have never backtracked from the view that it is the party of the people.
Our late father, former Gov. Paco, was a die-hard Liberal, having been its chairman in Pangasinan for years.
So watch out for this. We were telling our reading fans about our uncanny skill in making forecasts.
This Mar-Noy combination is deadly, and it will, if the duo could steer clear of intrigues, rule Philippine politics in due time.
The Aquino factor — Cory and Ninoy — will guide the direction of Philippine politics. Just watch.
* * * *
You must have come across a news item in the Philippine Star about the Bulacan folk celebrating their 435th foundation year last week.
It looked okay on the surface but not so because a group of Bulakeño historians has questioned the fixing of the date, validating our contention that establishing such a date is serious business.
Guv’nor Spines, who has commissioned us to undertake a serious research on the same thing in our province, must now be fully convinced that great and utmost care is needed in establishing the exact founding date of Pangasinan.
The National Historical Institute seems predisposed in pointing to 1580 as the most likely year when the islands’ governor general was our namesake Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penaloza. But we are not biting yet, as we express satisfaction in the committee’s collaboration with Spain-based Ms. Perla Primicias Lahoz, who is helping us in the effort.
Board Member Alfie Bince is also doing a heroic job on this.
At least four dates have surfaced during the ongoing research efforts by our committee, namely, April 5, l572, the date when the handsome Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo came to Pangasinan; l580, l583, and l6ll, when Pangasinan was declared a province comprising its present geography including Zambales, and parts of Tarlac and La Union.
If we were not particular about hitting the exact date, we should have settled for any such dates brought forward, but we consider our information sources as merely secondary, which could be questioned later, like what is happening in Bulacan these days.
We do not like to go the way the Bulacan people are now experiencing, hence, our attention to details that would make our report beyond reproof.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
