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‘Kingmaker’ Angelo Balili sad, disappointed over Calipusan’s tirades
By Mike Ortega Ligalig (published by Bohol Sunday Post)

Bohol’s most famous kingmaker Angelo R. Balili has finally broken his vow of silence and unleashed his yet most scathing remarks on the brewing political turbulence in Loboc, this time unmasking the “true color” of outgoing Loboc Mayor Leon Calipusan.

“I don’t want to stoop down to his level but I felt sad and disappointed that he (Leon Calipusan) had made those statements over the radio,” reacted Balili over Calipusan’s tirades heard over DYRD’s Inyong Alagad which lambasted the Makati-based businessman for his political decisions in Loboc during the May 13 elections.

Balili branded Calipusan’s statements as “rude ug walay pagtahod.”

Pressed to comment on the ranting of Calipusan, Balili, in an exclusive interview at his posh Makati corporate office Friday, said: “I did what I have to do for Loboc and I will always do what is best for Loboc for the sake of the youth and the next generation.”

Asked to comment further on Calipusan’s diatribes, Balili said: “That kind of garbage talk would tell you what kind of person he is.”

“Money can buy you power; it can buy you car, it can buy you house, it can buy you clothes, but money cannot buy you good character,” Balili answered when asked what he thought of Calipusan’s radio invectives that sent shockwaves on Bohol’s political landscape.

Balili said that Calipusan should not be upset that he did not support the candidacy of Leon’s sister, Helen Calipusan-Alaba, who won the mayoralty race over outgoing Loboc Vice-Mayor Louie Digal, because “Helen is not Leon and Leon is not Helen.”

“I saw a political dynasty emerging in the town of Loboc,” Balili said, expressing alarm over Calipusan’s decision to field in his sister Helen to seek Loboc’s mayoralty position.

In clarifying his decision to throw support to Digal, Balili said that he was just protecting the birth of a Calipusan dynasty in Loboc which “could jeopardize the future of the town and the lives of the future generation.”

“I’m only in Loboc because I care for the town,” he said matter-of-factly, adding: “Kung moanha ko ug Loboc, wala ko nagpatagbo ug banda. I don’t have any business interest in Loboc.”

“My loyalty to friends and relatives ends when my loyalty to Loboc begins,” Balili said, a statement that may be deemed as severing of ties with Calipusan, whom the philanthropist-businessman had lavishly supported when the then neophyte Calipusan sought Balili’s financial resources during previous elections.

The chairman and CEO of Questronix Corporation who is highly regarded as Bohol’s foremost kingmaker disclosed that he would never sorry nor issue an apology “when I know so well that I’m doing the right thing.”

“I have to stop Leon from making Loboc as a private enterprise. Loboc will cease as a town. I have to prevent the making of ‘Loboc, Inc.’ that is run by one family,” Balili stressed.
He said that he supported Digal because he saw in him the “potential of becoming a great leader” in Loboc.

“Humana si Leon. Natapos na ang 9 years niya,” Balili said. “Sa wala pa ang eleksyon, gihuna-huna nako nga kung mamayor si Helen, si Leon ra gihapon ang molingkod nga mayor. Unsa may kaugmaon sa Loboc?”

“I could have built a monument for him in the plaza of Loboc,” Balili said of Calipusan, “but Leon’s congressional ambition has changed him a lot.”
Balili reminded Calipusan: “When Leon became mayor, I never asked him any favor and he knew who made him mayor.”

Balili pointed out that all he wants in Loboc is good governance, zero-corruption, transparency and honesty in public service, political ideals which had vanished in the administration of Calipusan the moment the mayor decided to run as third district congressman against incumbent Rep. Arthur Yap. For some reasons only known to him, Calipusan withdraw his congressional candidacy three months before the 2013 elections, paving Yap’s re-election bid as a smooth-sailing journey.

Saddened over Calipusan’s outburst, Balili said: “Natingala ko nga ni-react siya nga wala man siya hilabti.”

“You can take a person out of Tondo, but you cannot take Tondo out of that person,” Balili replied when asked to issue his concluding statements.

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