General Admission
Politics is also the art of rising from the ruins
By Al S. Mendoza
SIR Winston Churchill said, “Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can be killed once, but in politics many times.”
How true.
But Churchill, one of the best political minds in history, forgot to add that in politics, you can die a thousand times but you can also rise in as many times.
Eight years or so ago, Guv Espines has been accused of coddling jueteng.
He was “killed” by the mudslinging, so to speak.
But in no time, he rose from the ruins—stronger as ever like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the fires of hell.
Some months back, they again “killed” Espines.
While on an official mission to the US, news spread like bush fire that Espines had died after a massive heart attack.
The lie, of course, can only be peddled by his political foes.
You are blind as a bat if you don’t see that.
About a week ago, they “killed” Espines again. He was accused, again, of jueteng payoffs.
They went all in: They charged Espines with plunder after accusing him of allegedly receiving P900 million in “jueteng funds.”
If the Ombudsman would entertain such folly, that’d be the height of madness.
“Jueteng funds” have become public money?
C’mon, I wasn’t born yesterday.
Plunder is when you misuse public funds P50 million and above.
Death doesn’t actually happen in politics, only temporary incapacity.
With the latest killer blow unleashed against Espines, the guv must be hurting but that’s normal.
Like you and me, Espines is also human; he weeps when he gets hit, especially when the punch is below the belt.
Such as the Orduna shot.
For, how in heaven’s name can Mayor Orduna of Bugallon prove that he gave Espines a total of P900 million in “jueteng money?”
The easiest thing to do is accuse. The hardest is to prove it.
But since Orduna’s accusation was unfurled in a press conference with no less than Mar Roxas, the most powerful man in President Aquino’s Cabinet, present, the whole caboodle carried weight of no mean feat so that it merited headline stuff.
Why Roxas even lent his ears to Orduna, an act that was immediately construed as a tacit approval to mere hearsay, isn’t hard to fathom.
Orduna has left both Espines’ friendship and party (NPC) and is now a Liberal, the party that Roxas heads and the same party that helped carry Aquino to presidential victory in 2010.
Not quite surprising, too, is the fact that Alaminos City Mayor Nani Braganza, formerly Lakas and now a Liberal, is Espines’ chief gubernatorial foe in May.
If Nani was part of the Orduna battle plan to demolish Espines, would you be surprised?
Let Aneurin Bevan answer that: “Politics is a blood sport.”
Merry Christmas!
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