Greed, opportunism and duplicity

By Al S. Mendoza

THE Liberal Party of P-Noy has 12 senatorial candidates like the UNA (United Nationalist Alliance) of BEE (Binay-Enrile-Erap).

Fine.  Nothing wrong there.

But look again, fellas.

Three candidates from both sides are the same.

Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda and Grace Poe are both in P-Noy’s Liberal Party and BEE’s UNA.

What’s wrong with that?

A lot.

Chiz, Loren and Grace are guest-candidates of UNA—whatever that means.

You fail to muster 12 candidates, isn’t that an automatic sign of weakness on the part of UNA?

UNA had 10 in the beginning.  But Joey de Venecia withdrew at the last minute.

A Binay daughter replaced Joey.

But she said, “I never wanted this.  My Dad never wanted me to run.”

But Enrile and Erap said the Binay child must run.

“My Dad was outnumbered and so, I am now running,” the Binay daughter said.

If you have an unwilling candidate running for the Senate, will she not end up an unwilling public servant if elected in May?

And so, in the end, UNA has 8 willing candidates, 1 unwilling bet, and 3 others being virtually forced to join them.

I don’t know what kind of logic UNA used in adopting Chiz, Loren and Grace unto its fold.

Don’t we have 90 million people to choose from for just three more?

And they say Binay is a biggie in politics, having scored a monumental upset by beating Mar Roxas in the 2010 vice presidential derby.

And they say Enrile is a brilliant bigwig in politics, having survived 5 presidents already and several coups—imagined or otherwise—to remain, at 88, Senate president since 2008.

And Erap?  Well, Erap is Erap.  The masang Pilipino loves him endlessly and that should do it.

With Erap, who needs logic?

But in the case of Chiz, Loren and Grace, I say if they are self-respecting enough, are decent and principled, they should pull out of UNA quick, and next tell BEE, “Please, we are LP bets. Thank you, anyway.”

But no.  They continue to be mum.

Talk about greed, opportunism.

In the first place, do not both parties offer different platforms?

How can Chiz, Loren and Grace espouse two opposing agendas?  That’d be tantamount to engaging in double-talk.

If I were P-Noy, I would not have allowed the set-up.  It smacks of duplicity.

And look at this:  P-Noy had rammed his cousin, Bam Aquino, into the LP lineup when the kid is still virtually in diapers.

And why is Cynthia Villar also with LP?  Isn’t she the wife of Manny Villar, whom P-Noy soundly thrashed in 2010 in a virtual war of attrition?

But UNA’s lineup is also flawed.

Erap’s son JV, and Enrile’s son Jack, are with UNA.

What is this, a family business or something?

And wasn’t Gordon, a UNA bet, at one time was Erap’s No. 1 foe?

Remember, when Erap was president?  He had Gordon hosed out of Subic with firewater when Gordon refused to vacate his post in Subic.

So, sorry, folks, but the circus is in town.  Let the show begin.

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