By Gonzalo Duque

 

THE political budget of Dagupan is dead. My information sources tell me the budget is now a reenacted one, with all the insertions made, whose purpose is merely political, already gone with the wind.

That means that today, the battle is not only about having a mayor and vice mayor in Dagupan City. The war will also test the resolve of the Sangguniang Panlungsod to see to it that the budget will offer programs that will benefit the people more, especially from the allocation of more than P300 million manna from the national government by virtue of the Mandanas doctrine.

Even when Benjie Lim as mayor and Belen Fernandez as vice mayor, the budget was always passed by the Sanggunian. So, may be, the father was more astute than the son, Brian!

I really hope that the action of the Sanggunian in thoroughly scrutinizing the proposed budget will make the executive more accountable and more transparent on what he wants to do for the city.

Since the councilors are there to check on the excesses of the mayor and vice versa and  probably, the councilors also wanted to make their own insertions in the budget and which the mayor did not want to give. Kaya, na-tengga ang badyet!

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Everybody is salivating at the endorsement of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. As I’ve said before, while Leni is getting some tractions now, it probably is still not enough to topple the Marcos-Duterte tandem. That is real politics. There are five leading candidates for president, and four should perhaps start forgetting about their egos and talk about the message of Bongbong—Unity, Unity , Unity.

Si BBM ay kampante na mananalo because of the public perception is he is the administration candidate since he got the endorsement of the PDP Laban, the political party that helped bring Mayor Duterte to Malacanang. 

But don’t you know that many regard the PDP Laban as a tragi-comedy party? The PDP Laban was organized to topple the Marcos rule. Then UNIDO and PDP Laban catapulted Cory Aquino to the presidency in 1986. Today, more than 30 years later, that party is swallowing its own saliva by endorsing Marcos’ junior for president. That’s why we consider our electoral system a circus and a fraud.

I would attribute the present fragmentation of PDP Laban to the failure of Senator Koko Pimentel and his elk to strengthen their party. They only have themselves to blame if they lost their identity today. While Koko Pimentel supported Duterte in 2017, he did nothing to promote the vision and mission of the PDP Laban. 

Worse, on a whim, his party immediately appointed Senator Manny Pacquiao as party president. Siyempre nagalit yong ibang miyembro nila.

Sayang at hindi na mana ni Koko ang values ng tatay nya na si Nene Pimentel, who by the way, was the author of the Local Government Code  of 1991. Koko failed to demonstrate leadership quality that could have made the PDP Laban stronger as a party. Pinagtatawanan sila in Duterte eh! When he joined the party, parang rag-tag party lang daw sila.

When Duterte came to power, akala nila susunod sa kanila si Duterte. Of course he didn’t. Ha, ha! It seems he preferred Pacquiao as party president kasi siya madaling sumunod. 

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Here’s more about the circus.

When Reporma party president Pantaleon Alvarez told Senator Ping Lacson na kailangan daw nilang magbayad sa mga watchers, he asked Senator Ping to give P800 million as the party’s standard bearer. When Ping said he didn’t have that kind of money, Alvarez immediately shifted his support to Leni Robredo.

The exodus from different political parties have already been multiplying.

I am still waiting for former President Ramos to say on who he will finally endorse. He has not endorsed Bongbong Marcos, who is his relative. I know Ramos’ EDSA partner, Juan Ponce Enrile already endorsed BBM but Ramos is silent about his preference.

However, most former cabinet members of Ramos already endorsed and are already in fact campaigning for Leni Robredo.

With the political circus going on, many people must now be laughing their way to the banks.

Marcos will also be laughing his way to the presidency. Hu! Hu! Hu!

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