General Admission
The waiting game
By Al S. Mendoza
AS the piano-bar saying goes, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”
That simply means we don’t drink the last shot until the bar crooner belts the last song of the night.
The bar doesn’t close until our last order has been placed.
Music won’t stop until the “pack-up” signal is barked up.
But sometimes, if the last man standing is still around, the barrel won’t stop flowing.
Mar Roxas has somewhat used that “fat lady sings” mantra this week to make Leni Robredo his running mate in his presidential bid for the 2016 polls.
Leni is the incumbent representative from Naga City in Camarines.
She is the widow of Jesse Robredo, the charismatic former Naga mayor, whose tragic plane crash death propelled Leni to the Congress in 2013.
Jesse was a Bicol icon even before he met his untimely death in a crash landing off the seas of Masbate.
Before Leni, Grace Poe was Mar’s choice.
Poe had declined because, from the very start, she was bent on gunning for the Palace upon the urging of, mainly, Chiz Escudero.
And, as expected, Chiz became Grace’s running mate in the May election.
They are running independent but it looks apparent some big blocs are inclined to support the unpredictable duo.
No doubt Poe has become that popular now.
First, she is riding on the crest of the stature of her late, adoptive father, who is no less than FPJ, the King of Philippine movies.
Generally speaking, Poe surged to No. 1 in the 2013 senatorial elections as the people’s ballot for Grace then was a protest/sympathy vote after FPJ’s presidential loss in 2004.
People will never forget that much-perceived maneuver that cheated FPJ out of the winning column through the “Hello Garci” call to make GMA the winner by a massive margin.
But instead of Poe bringing up the specter of another election cheating in the making, it is Binay who has raised the issue—suddenly.
In a rather crazy twist, Binay said he will use People Power if he will be cheated out of the 2016 elections.
I will definitely join the People Power if cheating happens in May—not only to Binay but to anyone hit by this scourge of the times.
But wait. What’s happening in the camp of Rodrigo Duterte, the strongest presidential bet that we never had—at least for the moment?
Duterte’s persistent hesitation to make a run of the Palace has now even lured Alan Peter Cayetano to join the throng to convince the Davao City mayor to reconsider.
And look at this: Cayetano has offered himself as Duterte’s running mate in May. And Nene Pimentel, the pillar of democracy, likes the team-up.
And so, the question: Will Duterte run for president?
Indeed, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings—on Oct 16.
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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