Franklin Drilon is the international ‘liberals’ man

Benigno Aquino III’s mismanagement of the country may be gone but his Liberal Party goes on with Franklin Drilon at its helm blocking Duterte’s reforms. He moves furtively in the sidelines but I wouldn’t put it past him to direct movements in the Opposition. I had a clash with him at the height of former President Arroyo’s term when I was appointed as a member of the 2005 Constitutional Commission. He is not for constitutional reform much less for switching from a presidential system to a parliamentary federal structure.

We should keep a watch on Liberal Drilon when he proposes for a con-con.(Keep in mind that with the Smartmatic-PCOS machines, he won more than 5 million votes than Duterte!) He is against any change and will fight it because he has prospered under the presidential system.

I remember meeting him once before the campaign for constitutional change. He was all smiles and friendly and said then – “O, Chit (my nickname) you will now get your wish we will have constitutional change.” I was not taken in by the charm he puts it on when he means something else.

Back in the headlines today, he has been linked to drug dealing by a cousin of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog who was tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte in his narcolist.

Let us not forget businesswoman Janet Napoles who said he was also linked him to the pork barrel scam. Others expected to be named are Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Leila de Lima and former budget secretary Florencio Abad.

When she accused Drilon earlier, he claimed he did not know Napoles until pictures showed him and his wife partying together. But friends said that Napoles and Drilon’s wife travelled together. I hope with Napoles coming out with the truth on the PDAF scam that the Liberal head will have to face the music.

Moreover, former Senate President Franklin Drilon is facing a P65-million plunder rap before the Office of the Ombudsman a week after three senators were charged in connection with the pork barrel scam.

The case is about Drilon’s alleged involvement in the supposedly anomalous and poor construction of the three-story Iloilo Hall of Justice using P200 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 1991.

This dates back to Drilon’s stint as justice secretary during the term of former President Corazon Aquino.

Former Iloilo congressman Augusto Syjuco Jr. described the offense as a continuing crime, as Drilon is allegedly trying to hide the building’s structural defects by spending another P50 million for repairs using his PDAF allocations for 2012.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as head of the Lakas-CMD is said to have been behind Drilon’s overthrow as president of the Liberal Party.

LP members sympathetic to the Arroyo administration in a meeting installed Manila Mayor Lito Atienza as the party president, thus triggering an LP leadership struggle and schism. That began a bitter struggle that eventually led Drilon to head the Hyatt 10 group to oust Arroyo. It is my opinion that the American government encouraged that attempted coup because of Arroyo’s and Lakas-CMD’s moves toward better relations with China.

This is more than local politics. We have to consider the influence of geopolitics in the making of Drilon as head of the Liberal party. As soon as Noynoy was elected president the Liberal Party hosted more than a 100 international Liberal leaders to come to Manila to inaugurate the central office for Asia. 

The Liberal Party of the Philippines headed by Franklin Drilon played host to the biggest gathering ever of international Liberal Party leaders.

Present were the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), Liberal International (LI), and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) to hold a series of meetings in Manila.

When interviewed Drilon said that the visiting liberals will include 30 members of Parliament and Senators, five incumbent ministers and a number of national and local officials from at least 30 countries. The host of the meetings is the LP with the support of the German liberal foundation, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), according to CALD Secretary General Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta, who is also LP Secretary General.

The main event was a joint CALD-ALDE-LI meeting on June 22 focusing on Population, Migration and the Globalization of Labor. Former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino was the keynote speaker.

Among the prominent Liberal leaders in the meetings  were the Lord Alderdice, President of the Liberal International, Member of the European Parliament Graham Watson, who is also ALDE leader; Dr. Wolfgang Gerhart, former leader of the German Liberal Party and current Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Chair; former International Labor Organization (ILO) Chairman Chung Eui-yong, Dr. Yoo Jay Kun, MP of the ruling Uri Party of Korea; Malaysian Senator Dr. S. Vijayaratnam; Italian Member of the European Parliament Lappo Pistelli; and MP Sam Rainsy, leader of the Cambodian United Opposition and President of the Cambodian Sam Rainsy Party.

ALDE brings together politicians from the European Liberal and Democratic traditions to create the third force in the history of the European Parliament, challenging the historical dominance of the European Socialists and Christian Democrats, Acosta added. It is made up of 88 MEPS, and is led by Graham Watson. The political program of the ALDE focuses on the alleged strengthening and reform of the European Union to make it more effective at home and abroad.

The Liberal International was founded in 1947 to  promote liberalism, strengthening liberal parties and for the promotion of liberal democracy around the world.

The Liberal Party of the Philippines (LP) is the current Chair Party and a founding member of CALD. It is the first Asian member of Liberal International.

Drilon is the current Chairman of CALD while Acosta is the Secretary General.

It is not a coincidence that attacks on the Duterte government come from the European parliament.