What if Grace Poe is indeed PNoy’s secret choice?

A week ago, when the Solicitor General, who had just been appointed by the President a few months ago, opted to defend the position taken by presidential candidate Grace Poe Llamanzares, instead of doing its sworn duty as the official lawyer of the COMELEC, rumors started to go around some coffee shops, here in Metro Manila, that such a stand unexpectedly taken by the Solgen should have the blessings of the President. And we believed in that rumor because this President does not seem to tolerate any of his close appointees in the executive department to oppose his official stand. This President, and perhaps rightly so, any president for that matter would want his underlings to be on the same page with him. We do not begrudge PNoy for that.

When three of the PNoy appointees in the Supreme Court, with all due respect, by the statements that they have respectively made, and widely publicized, appeared to be on the side of Senator Grace as being qualified, then I started to think that indeed there is some truth to the school of thought that Malacañan is secretly supporting Grace Poe. We refer, with all due respect, to three UP professors who ascended to the highest court of the land by the grace of  PNoy's prerogative to appoint them, namely: the Chief Justice herself, the honorable Ma Lourdes Sereno, the youngest Marvic Leonen, and the former San Miguel lawyer, my boss, Justice Francis Jardeleza, a Bar topnotcher, all spoke in favor of foundlings being considered natural-born , then I said to myself that my belief has been confirmed. We should leave that to their wisdom as the matter is ''sub judice.'.

Now, the question is: Why would PNoy betray his friend and close ally, Mar Roxas, after all that Mar has done for him. Had Mar insisted to run in 2010, then the LP would have been divided, and either Erap Estrada or Gibo Teodoro or Manny Villar would have been our President by now. But in Philippine politics, if one refuses to be naive, or clueless as a virgin, everything and anything is possible. In fact, in 2010, there was a very strong group close to PNoy that was openly campaigning for a NOYBI ticket, or an Aquino-Binay tandem. Some of those behind that not-too-secret move were Chiz Escudero, Tingting Cojuangco and Peping Cojuangco, PNoy's own uncle. I don't believe that such a clever move did not have the blessings of Peping's favorite nephew.

And so, the question today is, why would PNoy support Grace? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind, to the direction where the political wind is blowing. There is no substitute for victory. And Mar does not seem to be a winner. He has been given too much logistics, too much exposure, too much endorsement, and his numbers are not improving. He is being beaten even by Duterte who is running a rag tag campaign without funds. He is being beaten by Binay despite Mar's clean school boy image, and notwithstanding Binay's too many '' wounds and scars'' in the hands of Senators Escudero, Cayetano, Pimentel and Guingona's endless tirades in the senate investigations in aid of demolition.

And so, the realpolitik, as the Russians would say, is to sacrifice our bishop and to save the queen. And that means Poe should be saved from disqualification, because, among all those who have the wherewithal to beat Mar Roxas, Poe is the lesser evil. And Poe would not persecute PNoy when he becomes an ex-President. Poe would not jail PNoy as Pnoy's government did to GMA. Poe would not imprison PNoy for PDAP or DAP as GMA did to Erap or as PNoy did to Senators Jinggoy, Bong and JPE. Poe is an easier nut to crack. So, even Mar Roxas would understand the realities of politics. He may just be appointed as ambassador to Washington or to the Court of St James.