It's Holy Week and the season of betrayal begins!

Over the weekend, I was at the Bantique Cove in Malapascua for the taping of my Easter episode. As we returned yesterday, we passed through the town of Bogo in time for the Holy Mass sponsored by the One Cebu Party. Gov. Gwen F. Garcia supported the kick-off campaign of Mrs. Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung (MSY) who is vying for the mayorship of Bogo. With her were her brothers Ben-Hur who is seeking the 4th District congressional seat and Caesar Salimbangon, MSY’s vice-mayoral candidate. With the support of the Governor, MSY will undoubtedly give Mayor Celestino “Junnie” Martinez a run for his money.

But this piece of good news was shattered by the defection by no less than Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz from the One Cebu Party to the camp of Sen. Manny Villar. No one knew Sec. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. more than Inday Nerry Soon-Ruiz, which is why she was the first to convince people to go for GIBO… until the last Sunday, when she dropped him for Villar. Call it timely that she did this at the start of the Holy Week, the season of betrayal, when Judas betrayed Jesus and doomed him to his crucifixion.

But in the case of Nerry, her defection won’t cause the demise of GIBO. In fact, I would say that it strengthens the Lakas-Kampi-CMD from ugly politicians whose true purpose is not to serve their constituents, but to serve their own pockets! I would say her defection is a cleansing process that would boomerang on her. The many people in Mandaue City whom she convinced to vote for GIBO would now turn and vote for Mayor Jonas Cortes, who I’m sure will welcome their votes. No sir, they are not shifting their loyalties to Noynoy Aquino; rather they will focus their ire on Nerry for her betrayal of GIBO. I’m sure that Luigi Quisumbing must be asking himself, “Am I the next person that Nerry will betray?”

I have long known that politics has no morals and there are very few politicians who possess, honor, honesty and reliability who have remained steadfast and unchanging and I mean people like Gov. Gwen F. Garcia who has stuck it out with GIBO. In the end, this presidential elections will surprise a lot of Filipinos. At this time, they already know that they should not be voting for Manny Villar because the people know that when he is president, he will get back ten times all that he has spent in this elections. In the end, GIBO has become the people’s only choice, especially those who are dismayed by money politics.

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As I mentioned, I was in Bantique Cove to tape my Easter Monday edition with Mrs. Arlene Monteclar Woolbright who is married to Gilbert Woolbright, the son of the Eddie Woolbright who created Cebu’s famous Beverly Hills. Gilbert apparently married Arlene, who is a native of Malapascua and they are now developing their new resort, the Bantique Cove at the north end of the island. This was my first trip to this northernmost part of Cebu, which has been dubbed as Cebu’s answer to Boracay.

Actually, Malapascua is smaller than Boracay, but it has character because of its hills and ragged shoreline, sandwiched by beautiful white sand beaches. Bantique Cove’s Dive Master Alfred Alesna also told me the story of the Thresher sharks that can be found in the Monad Shoals. Thresher sharks can be found in many places around the world; however, it is only in Malapascua where they seem to have a skin cleaning station, where Cleaner fish eats the parasites that’s attached to its body and makes their skin silver-gold skin shiny. Thresher sharks have a distinct tail that is as long as its body. It’s called Thresher because its tail looks like a grain thresher.

Many foreign tourist/divers come to Malapascua just for the Thresher sharks. In fact as we were leaving, a beautiful 139-ft motor yacht “Andiamo” arrived, all the way from New York then San Francisco in the USA and anchored off Malapascua just to look for Thresher sharks. I checked their website and this beautiful ocean-going yacht is owned by Mrs. Nancy Mueller, founder of Nancy’s Specialty Foods, the world’s largest producer of frozen quiche (“Nancy’s Quiche”) that is used in cocktail foods. Indeed, Malapascua’s success can be traced to Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s tourism campaign and strengthen by Gov. Gwen’s Suroy-Suroy program.

It was nightfall as we returned to Cebu City. Allow me to congratulate Liloan Mayor Duke Frasco for his ultra bright road lights that brighten the highway which is a boon to our weary and tired eyes. What surprised me was that Consolacion had the same number of highway lights, but they were not as bright as Liloan’s. The trip from Cebu City to Maya in Daan Bantayan and back took us close to 300 kilometers.

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