Cebuano politicos join PDP-Laban en masse!

Last Friday, Nov. 17 was the day that the national ruling political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) could now officially claim that the Province of Cebu and its metropolitan cities is PDP-Laban country because the majority of political parties in Cebu like the One Cebu Party of the Garcias and Alayon Party of the Gullas family and Team Rama in Cebu City (except for the Bakud Party of Ramonito Durano, though they wrote Pres. Duterte giving him their support) took their oaths of office before House Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez at the Plaza Independencia with a crowd of 50,000 attending the political event.

Fifty thousand attendees? Rarely do we find the three major local news dailies in Cebu City, notably The Freeman, Cebu Daily News and SunStar Daily come up with the same number of people who attended this political event. So this figure must be accurate. It was in this event that House Speaker Alvarez endorsed Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson and Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque to run for Senator.

The House Speaker also named Rep. Karlo Nogralez (Davao City), Rep. Geraldine Roman (Bataan), Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Negros Occidental) and former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino as potential Senatorial candidates under the PDP-Laban political banner for the 2019 mid-term elections. Nope, there was no mention by Speaker Alvarez endorsing Deputy Speaker Rep. Gwen F. Garcia in that event, although many Cebuanos want her back at the Cebu Provincial Capitol. She is the head of the One Cebu Political Party that joined the PDP-Laban party.

That oath-taking event meant that all major political parties have overnight became members of the ruling PDP-Laban Party. This is in addition to what happened last August 2016 when the PDP-Laban received a manifesto of support from 65 out of the 80 Barangay Captains in Cebu City headed by Philip Zafra when they took the oath of office with some 300 new members for PDP-Laban held at the Sacred Heart Center. This was when Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing also joined the PDP-Laban party.

Also taking their oaths of office last Friday were the members of Team Rama (around 200 in number) led by Cebu City Vice-Mayor Edgardo labella and the Team Rama councilors. Their political leader former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama was left out because he was tagged by no less than Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte as a “drug protector,” an image that he has been working feverishly to shed in order to keep alive his political existence.

So now the current ruling party in Cebu City, the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) led by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña would have to slug it out with a stronger PDP-Laban Party in Cebu City. When asked about Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, House Speaker Alvarez remarked, “Just ignore him, he is irrelevant. I don’t know where Cebu City Mayor Osmeña stands. He has no concerns about the party because he is not a PDP-Laban member.” The BO-PK was allied with the Liberal Party in the last two elections. With the LP dwindling in number, it just makes me wonder how the BO-PK can survive this political juggernaut.

Last Saturday we had a late lunch meeting with Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, blogger Sass Rogando Sasot and RJ Nieto, MyTV talkshow host and columnist Mike Acebedo, Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales and blogger RJ Nieto. It was the first time I met our new found friends, especially Mocha who now writes a column for the Philippine STAR.

Since the issue was already splashed in the newspapers, I asked Mocha whether she was running for the Senate or not? She replied that she wasn’t interested, however if Pres. Duterte asked her to run, she would obey the President. So call this issue validated or confirmed, but remains to be seen. It was truly a lively afternoon with the group at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel where many issues political or otherwise were thrown into the table. Of course many issues we talked about I cannot write.

However Mike Lopez revealed to the group that sometime in the Year 2010, former First Lady Imelda Marcos was featured in CNN shopping in Divisoria’s 168. That CNN found the once extravagant First Lady shopping in a poor man’s mall in Divisoria to be newsworthy is their editorial decision. But what Mike Lopez revealed to us, which was not given any credence by CNN was that her shopping companion was Maur Aquino Lichauco, the sister of the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. In my book that Imelda’s shopping companion was the sister of Ninoy was more than newsworthy! In fairness, all the bloggers in the table asked Mike for a photo of the two of them together before they will use it in their blogs. But I know Mike well enough to know that he is telling the truth.

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