The drama in the House was perhaps needed to add color to President Rody Duterte’s third SONA. The ouster of former Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez (and the recycling of GMA), just like the less dramatic easing out of former senate president Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, was actually inevitable. When Alvarez stepped into the shoes of Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., his fate was sealed. Floirendo was one of Duterte’s biggest campaign financiers, aside from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III. When Alvarez caught the ire of presidential daughter Sara Duterte Carpio, his political life was practically over. His own imprudence caused his downfall.
The combined forces of his new political enemies overwhelmed him. His own wife was egged to run against him in the first district of Davao del Norte. Could this be why Alvarez pushed for a NO-EL scenario? And in the event the polls push through, he was reportedly scouting another district in Surigao where he has allegedly a rest house and other properties. But then again, if that happens, Alvarez will be a political neophyte in CARAGA, and the family of Governor Sol Matugas is too strong and well-entrenched for him to topple. Neither could Alvarez be a match to the political strength of Rep. Robert “Ace” Barbers, of the second district of Surigao del Norte.
Looking at the bigger picture now, the ouster Alvarez completes the marginalization of PDP, after Koko was replaced by Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III of NPC. Remember there was a time when Alvarez and Marinduque congressman Jay Lord Velasco (son of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.) were the only two members of the PDP-Laban left in the House. Then the political butterflies and balimbings crowded over to the side to the president’s coalition. There was a time when Koko was practically alone in the Senate, later joined by Nancy Binay whose father, the vice president and presidential bet, had a falling out with Nene and Koko, and the party split.
In a way too, when both Koko and Alvarez were “inilaglag” by Duterte’s coalition, Mindanao political leaders were also marginalized. The only senators from Mindanao now who remain with the president’s party are “pambansang kamao” Manny Pacquiao from Saranggani and Gensan, and Migz Zubiri from Bukidnon. I am not sure if Karlo Nograles and Bong Go can make it to the Senate in 2019. Of course, Sara’s senatorial dream is practically in the bag. Perhaps Koko and Alvarez were just being sacrificed to avoid a scenario where Mindanao could be perceived as overrated and overrepresented in government. One does not to be genius to figure out they were eased out to let Karlo, Bong, and Sara in. In the game of politics, anything can happen, even the most unlikely.
Indeed, in politics, as some sages said, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. The only thing permanent is the hunger for power and insatiable thirst for glory and prestige.