Here and There
Disturbing choice between Jose and Pablo?
By Gerry Garcia
A GRAND show-down seems to be in the offing between Congressmen JdV and Pablo Garcia of Cebu in the bid for the House speakership. Expected venue: The Batasan Pambansa where an all-party caucus has been planned prior to the assumption of the 14th Congress.
JdV, incumbent House Speaker, was, as usual, firm in throwing the challenge against his rival: if Garcia has the numbers to claim the leadership of the House, he’d better “put up or . . . shut up.” Ever the accommodating leader, our favorite Speaker added he was willing to forgo his plans for an unprecedented 5th term as Speaker of the House if the 81-year old Garcia could drum up the required support from 124 House members.
His words sounded terse and final: If he really has the numbers in the caucus, I’ll withdraw… and will nominate him”. This echoed a time when he attempted to take over the presidency but lost to popular rival Erap Estrada. Ever the tactful diplomat, JdV acceded to Erap’s victory and literally raided the hand of the winner.
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Meanwhile Cebu’s Rep-elect Garcia is squirming under pressure of allegations from JdV’s camp that he is using funds from the GSIS headed by his son Winston in his campaign to wrest House leadership from Joe de V — and accusation we and a lot many other pro-Pinoys find not hard to believe, considering recent revelations showing that the GSIS head, having miserably failed a multi-million life-style check, is not off the hook yet.
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Admittedly a coalition master when JdV assumed leadership of the Lakas -NUCD-UMDP group, a merger of Christian and Muslim democrats in 1998, Speaker JdV, a month later, was elected in Madrid as vice president of the Christian Democrat and Peoples Parties International (CDI), an alliance of political leaders and heads of Christian Democratic parties in Europe, Latin, America, Asia and Africa.
As an experienced law-maker, Speaker JdV was author of: 1) the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law which saved about $26 billion in multi-infra projects at no cost to the government 2) the Bases conversion law that led to the development of Fort Bonifacio Global City and conversion of the former US military bases in Subic and Clark, including Baguio City’s Camp John Hay into fruitful economic zones.
His more important achievement was the initiation and implementation of the dollar-remittance program benefiting thousands of overseas workers and securing additional multi-billion revenue for the country.
At 70, our quintessential JdV has not given up hope for himself and millions of others, for achieving a controversial but utterly needed change — Charter Change and the shift from presidential bicameral system of government to a unitary parliament under a Prime Minister. The PM’s post, elected from among members of the parliament, could easily and predictably be handed over to you-know-who.
But, if the Cha-Cha could be completed and ratified before 2010, our JdV, insists “I have absolutely no plan to seek the office of Prime Minister.”
Even if days of uncertainty and turbulence are seen ahead, advocates of Cha-Cha and the silent majority is keeping their fingers crossed there’ll be a change in the status quo.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/here-and-there/)
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