Agbayani for senator?
“Spine” vs the doktora?

By Al S. Mendoza

I WAS TOLD that Governor Agbayani is set to run for senator.

Or, let’s put it this way: Ate Glue wants Governor Vic to be in the administration senatorial slate in the coming May polls.

“I think Vic should grab the opportunity,” said my friend, who was a classmate of the governor’s at Ateneo.   “This is a rare chance for him.  Not everybody is offered by the President to be in her chosen few.”

Personally, I think Agbayani should give it a serious thought. 

First, he is young.  The Senate needs more young blood to keep the nation’s political motor engine running.

Second, he is a seasoned public servant, having been in the government eye for maybe almost three decades now to include his stint as Pangasinan governor for the maximum term of three elections.

And third, the name Agbayani is almost synonymous to the nation’s political consciousness, dating back to Vic’s late, lamented father, Aguedo.  From Lingayen to Legazpi, from Dagupan to Danao, from Sual to Cebu, the name Agbayani is like Coke to the national psyche.

About time, too, that Pangasinan had a senator again.

Now, as I said here earlier, Vic’s wife is being rumored to run for governor of Pangasinan.

That should be interesting.

Will she win?  Or, better yet, what are her chances of winning?

A big chance, if you ask me.  The Agbayani machinery, built through decades from the days of the elder Agbayani, will be at work and its full might could shoulder the missus into the Princess Urduja mansion with ease.

Vic’s wife, a close relative of actor Edu Manzano’s (first cousin?), has the built-in attraction of being exceptionally pretty.  That is a sure-fire weapon to collect much-needed votes among our masses of people, who are easily attracted to physical, more than mental, attributes. 

Of   course, I’m not saying the governor’s wife doesn’t have the brains to run the province’s affairs.  She has, for isn’t she a doctor of medicine?  In fact, she is a pediatrician at   St. Luke’s in Quezon City, known to her patients as Dr. Jamie Eloise Manzano Agbayani. If only for that, I consider her as beauty and brains. 

Likewise, Vic could not have had this political success all these years without his wife beside him.  As the saying goes, “Behind the success of any man is a woman.”

In short, the doktora should be a formidable foe should she decide to run for governor of Pangasinan.

Already, my buddy Amado Espino, the good General “Spine” who is our incumbent congressman in the second district, has publicly announced his intention to run for governor in May.

General Espine is no greenhorn to provincial politics; his stint as one-time provincial commander could likewise put into position his touted political machinery. Therefore, he is also a force to reckon with.

If Vic’s wife decides to run, who will it be in May, the general or the doktora?

Your guess is as good as mine.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/)

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