Politicizing the Sinulog and the Senate probe
Now it can told that politicians should not have used the Sinulog Festival as part of their campaign strategy.
Last Sunday, people inside the grandstand at the Cebu City Sports Center booed Vice President Jejomar Binay after suspended Mayor Michael Rama introduced him to the crowd. In fairness to Binay who took the microphone from Rama, he only wanted to greet the people a happy fiesta. But then, Binay should have been told to stay away from the grandstand because Cebuanos get irritated when politicians use the Sinulog in their campaign.
I still vividly remember the time during the Sinulog of 1986 when then First Lady Imelda Marcos came to visit his eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal at the Archbishop's Palace. After that visit her motorcade inched its way to Mango Avenue along D. Jakosalem St. It was a rainy day and as the Toyota coaster bearing the First Lady turned towards Mango Avenue the Sinulog revelers threw yellow confetti on the coaster, which stuck on the van's body. A month later, the Marcos dictatorship was removed during the Edsa Revolt.
Yes, as I was still living at the top of our building in Mango Avenue and I witnessed this event with my own eyes. Another celebrity who also came for the Sinulog was Mega Star Fernando Poe, Jr. who also came to Cebu City Sports Center and when the people saw him, they booed him even if FPJ did not even go up the stage in the grandstand. I also witnessed that event, as I was still CITOM chief at that time.
Call me lucky that this time around, I did not go to Mango Avenue to watch the Sinulog Grand Parade opting to watch it on TV. Indeed I saw all those photos on Facebook the huge crowd filling the whole street. I read that there was a stampede and that people fainted because of the heat and we can only blame those people who insisted to be on that jam-packed road.
As for those politicians who came, they deserved to be booed. Their handlers who are from Cebu should have advised them properly and warned their bosses not to come and press the flesh so to speak during the Sinulog Festival because Cebuanos want to separate their politics from their merrymaking fiesta of Cebu. Unfortunately for Binay, the Sinulog this time comes right smack during the election campaign period.
Speaking of politicizing issues, next week, the Committee on Public Order chaired by Sen. Grace Poe will be reopening the Senate investigation on the massacre of 44 Special Action Force troopers as it will be exactly one-year since this dastardly event happened. The question comes to mind whether this reopening of the Mamasapano tragedy is to search for the truth as to what happened that fateful day or to further a hidden agenda; that the reopening of this incident which would certainly become headline material is good for those running for reelection or for president.
Even before the Senate reopens this hearing, it has already become a political issue. No less than Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said, "On January 25, the country will mark the first year of the Mamasapano tragedy. I hope my colleagues at the Senate see the reopening of the inquiry as an opportunity to finally hold accountable all those responsible for this tragedy and render complete justice to the victims and their families, who a year after this gruesome event, are still looking for closure."
Sen. Cayetano urged Sen. Grace Poe and all those senators seeking higher office to inhibit themselves from participating in the deliberations of this gruesome murder of our 44 fallen SAF troopers. He himself has already declared that he too would inhibit himself from participating in this investigation so that no one can tag him as using this investigation to promote his own campaign. This is a very good idea and I hope those mentioned would follow Sen. Cayetano's lead.
Yesterday, The Freeman editorial was about this Senate investigation where it pointed out, "Can a reopening of the Mamasapano investigation be used for political purposes in a presidential election year? It can and it will be. But so what? There is always a price to pay for everything. And if it has to end in pump priming of someone's moribund political campaign, that is a very small price to pay for the truth that lies desperately buried under the weight of one man's criminal apathy."
In my book, there are two schools of thought here and I fully agree with Sen. Cayetano that all those running in the 2016 presidential elections should inhibit themselves from joining this investigation. Otherwise, we might as well wait until July 2016 when there will be new senators in the 17th Congress. We have always maintained that justice delayed is justice denied. Well, justice for the 44 fallen SAF troopers have been delayed for a year already, so another five months of delay won't hurt anyone.
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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