Easter presscon somebody else's project

First off, let me belatedly greet Arlene, my wife for 37 years, on our wedding anniversary yesterday. And to the fruits of that union, three beautiful daughters who we have not seen in person for at least a year. If God truly blesses us in ways other than what we usually pray for, then the strength with which our tiny family has overcome all challenges that constantly kept us company must be his way of saying we were never alone.

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The Easter Sunday presscon of presidential rivals Panfilo Lacson, Isko Moreno, and Norberto Gonzales has been given a narrative other than what they and a fourth bet, Manny Pacquiao, may have wished to convey. The four, all lagging in the surveys, said they needed to expose attempts by the camp of second-running Leni Robredo to raid their ranks or pester them to withdraw and unite behind her.

The presscon has been described as the pathetic caper of a bunch of losers, not just by the camp of Robredo, but even by independent or otherwise objective analysts and opinion-makers. Maybe it is the fault of the four themselves. Pacquiao, the organizer of the presscon, did not show up. In my book, you organize, you materialize. Moreno and Gonzales were limp and tentative. Only Lacson was resolute, but minus any bang.

An exposé, any exposé, needs to be accompanied by nothing less than fire and brimstone, Sturm Und Drang. One should appear not just aggrieved but also willing to pick a fight. As it turned out, the trio (Pacquiao was still conveniently up in the air) of Lacson, Moreno, and Bert looked as if they were sorry they were even there. They were like kids expecting to be scolded for slurping on cold bowls of lugaw colored pink.

The presscon went pffft despite the explosive nature of the exposé. Handled well, it could have reinforced the thought that Robredo is not exactly who she is being made out to be. It would have rendered unsurprising her and running mate Kiko Pangilinan's abandonment of the Liberal Party when it was no longer gainful to be associated with the group despite being its two top officials, she as chairman, Kiko as president.

But I do not wish to fall into the trap of embracing a narrative of the presscon that is nailed to its occurring and the immediate fallout therefrom. I suspect the four were in fact played by Robredo in an elaborate plot meant to eventually save face since from the beginning, Robredo and her camp knew they faced an uphill battle against Bongbong Marcos, either singly or in tandem with any or all of Lacson, Moreno, Gonzales, and Pacquiao.

And that is because she made the crucial mistake early on of embracing this phenomenon called cancel culture. By projecting herself, her camp, her campaign, and her base of support as the only thing in the electoral market that is good, clean, honest, intelligent, incorrupt, and anointed by God, she effectively isolated herself from all the rest who, conversely, are bad, filthy, dishonest, dumb, corrupt, and allies of the devil.

Dividing the field into such an uncompromising, all-or-nothing configuration, leaves no room for unification under one banner, no joining of forces behind one leader. Good and evil don't mix. So why did the Robredo camp keep badgering the others? Because the real objective is to make sure no unity happens then blame it on the others. To do that, she has to prick the fragile pride of macho men, force them to go public with their exposé.

Once the presscon was called and the exposé made, all talk of unity became out of the question. Robredo got what she really wanted. Failure to unite is her face-saving alibi if she loses. For she cannot face another defeat. Remember, she is still chairman of LP, whose last outing in 2019 ended in ignominy. Zero. And even now many remain unconvinced she won in 2016, what with a key figure in that election still hiding in the US.