By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

ON hearing and watching ex-mayor Brian Lim constantly blasting Belen Fernandez administration for its “failed” governance, many wonder why son Brian filed for the vice mayoralty post and not for the mayoralty post.

Why was mother Celia made to file for the mayoralty post when it’s son Brian who’s leading the charge for the opposition? Brian is not a sitting councilor, Celia is, and therefore, she and daughter Irene Lim Acosta are more aware of how the sanggunian should be run as a vice mayor and presiding officer.

Hence, shouldn’t it be mother Celia who should challenge Mayor Belen to a debate on governance and not son Brian? It’d be more appropriate for son Brian to challenge Vice Mayor Bryan Kua to a debate on parliamentary rules with specific cases in mind.

But son Brian kept on taking center stage as the attack dog and yet mother Celia and daughter Irene were never heard to back son Brian’s claimed “irregularities” under the Belen administration.

So, what led to the unusual political switching of roles between mother and son? Could it be because son Brian fears being dealt with another whammy in the polls by Mayor Belen? And he thinks beating VM BK would be a walk in the park? Hmmm.

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MUTED EPALIFE BARKADA. Curiously, it’s only son Brian who’s speaking out there.

The voices of mother Celia, daughter Councilor Irene, barkada Red Erfe-Mejia, Dada Reyna Macalanda, and Alfie Fernandez (all belonging to the epaLiFe barkada) are still muted during organized press conferences.

But official records show how the five (plus Alvin Coquia and Malou Fernandez) who consistently blocked the annual budgets of the city government in their attempt to obstruct all programs they perceived would redound to Belen Administration getting all the credit undeservedly.

I dare the epaLiFe barkada to explain why they blocked the annual budgets and supplemental budgets to the extent of seeking court decision, to justify their moves. Of course, even all the courts denied their petitions because they hardly contained any merit. Puro suntok sa buwan, obviously on the advice of son Brian.

Take for instance the case of the DOH project ‘Mother-Child Hospital. Why did it take them more than two years to pass one simple resolution to give the go-signal for the construction of the Mother-Child Hospital, that was eventually lost because of its late submission? (The explanation provided by Son Brian was full of lies).

After all is said and done, the 7 epaLiFe barkada should tell the voters why they deserve to be back in the city council after obstructing all major programs intended for the benefit of the city. They can add their explanation why they decided to plagiarize filed drafts of ordinances submitted by the minority councilors so they can claim credit for these.

P.S. Whose dumb idea was it to show how immature they can get by doing their stupid juvenile antics on Tiktok as a barkada? 

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SEN. IMEE WITH VP SARA. The endorsement of Sen. Imee Marco’s candidacy for senator by VP Sara Duterte did not really come as a surprise to me. I have since believed that presidential sister Imee had long wanted to come out in the open to align herself with VP Sara. Her presence in past forays of the Duterte camp already signaled that not all’s well between her and her sister-in-law Liza.

Her withdrawal from the Alyansa can’t be farther from the truth when she decided to burn that bridge linking her to Liza and her power-centered group. She is apparently so upset and frustrated with the series of boo-boos attributed to her brother who, in turn, is unable to control the situation. Her committee hearing on the departure of FPRRD to The Hague was unmistakably aimed at discrediting Liza’s underlings in the cabinet.

Some insist that her move defying her brother’s administration can’t be trusted enough since she is still a Marcos. Well, I choose to believe that her decision to align with VP Sara was a development waiting to happen after all these months. If the Binay siblings can openly battle it out openly over political moves, surely a Marcos siblings’ political squabble is possible.

I’d like to see Sen. Imee back in the Senate.

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VOTE-BUYING RULE. The Comelec rule that the person handing out cash to potential voters should be the person accountable, not the candidate, is fair enough. But I don’t see it fair that the recipient should be made accountable as well unless it was made clear that the person asked to be paid in return for his vote.

Note that the politicians dole out cash to perceived supporters, and, therefore, not considered as vote-buying. This is akin to Comelec’s rule allowing identified beneficiaries of the three ayuda programs of the national government to receive the dole-outs.

Since the Comelec rule saves the candidates from any accountability, there is nothing to stop the candidates from carrying out vote-buying schemes, using the authorized ‘ayuda’ programs as a cover.   

In short, the Comelec rule was adopted to favor candidates of the Marcos administration.

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ROAD RAGE BULLYING. The increasing number of road rage incidents in the country is indicative of another frustrating situation in the country.

More enraged drivers and riders are feeling more entitled to bully each other in the streets because no one is penalized by the police for public disturbance. And in the absence of a particular local ordinance to enforce it, the traffic enforcers are helpless since there is no clear basis for effecting an arrest.

So watch out for the entitled bullies in the streets.

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