Erap or his ego should retire from politics

Congratulations to Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama for winning the coveted title as the national president for the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines (VMLP). This was a very hotly contested race yet as Sir Mike won a total of 588 votes or 64 percent of the total of 925, while his opponent, Vice Mayor Danilo Leyble of Antipolo City, got 337 votes or 36 percent. While this election was only among vice mayors, it did have the trappings of old politics where patronage and money would have won the VMLP leadership. (I heard Leyble was the manok of the DILG chief).

But from the reports I got from our good friend Cerwin Eviota, who helped Mike Rama in this fight at the Manila Hotel, he told me that despite the usual trappings of dirty old election tactics, even the vice mayors of the National Capital Region batted for VM Mike Rama who got 11 votes to Leyble’s one vote. Our very own Region 7 gave Mike Rama 75 votes against eight for Leyble, while Region 8 gave Rama 91 votes to Leyble’s three. The votes from these two regions alone were enough to offset Leyble’s lead in six regions and produced a landslide that surprised the DILG.

This should be a message to all politicians that an honest candidate can win an election without buying votes against a candidate that would. So once again we congratulate VM Mike Rama for his stunning win, which more than earns him the right to become the next mayor of Cebu City. Perhaps I should make good what I told Mike Rama when I interviewed him on my show, Straight from the Sky, during the last Sinulog that we should now address him as PM instead of VM. PM stands for Practicing Mayor.

* * *

Talking about elections, I submit that the time is ripe for “presidentiables” to prepare for the coming 2010 elections so we can see changes that would create a better Philippines. This means we hope to expect and see a new kind of politician, someone who can lead this nation in perhaps one of the most difficult periods in human history, given record prices of oil and the looming food shortages affecting the globe, not to mention our need to come up with a common effort to curb global warming.

Alas, I was saddened by what I saw, a colored photo on the front page of The Philippine STAR last Friday showing deposed and convicted President Joseph “Erap” Estrada opening the party caucus of the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) at the Club Filipino in Greenhills. As the old saying goes, “A picture paints a thousand words,” and that photo showed that Erap clearly wants another shot at the presidency despite the constitutional ban that prevents him from running again.

To show that he still enjoys popular support, he is once again using the ignorant, uneducated and weary poor Filipinos to sign a petition to ask him to run again. Call this the ultimate in ego-tripping or sheer hypocrisy! There is no doubt that using the name of the poor Filipinos in vain has made many politicians millionaires many times over.

So go ahead Mr. Erap, have your signature drive to give a turbo-booster to your already over-inflated ego. But I’ll have my readers know that if this country will allow Erap to be president… I think it is really time to pack our bags and migrate to a country that doesn’t choose a pardoned plunder convict to become its president!

Of course, Malacañang already came up with a very clear statement that Erap can’t run again because of the constitutional prohibition… perhaps it is written in the fine print of his executive clemency. But who’s to stop him from giving the poor people money just to sign their petition to ask him to run again for president?

But if Erap knows what is good for him, he ought to emulate what most of the world’s leaders do when they retire: go on a world tour giving speeches like what former US President Bill Clinton is doing. But then, what would Erap say or worse, who would understand him speaking only in Tagalog? Perhaps he should follow the example of former US President Jimmy Carter who helps build homes for the poor through a non-government organization (NGO), Habitat for Humanity. Some 10 years ago, we joined him in Tagbilaran City, Bohol where we really saw him help build a wall of one of the houses there.

Hmm, but then backbreaking work that gets your hands dirty isn’t also Erap’s cup of tea. Of course, Erap can always go to the movies, but he knows too well that he’d lose whatever is left of his fortune to video pirates. But Erap must face the reality that the time has come for him to retire from politics or if he can’t do that, at least he must let his over-inflated ego retire.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.