The Art of Political Survival
Editorial, Bohol Chronicle
Political serenity,
Bohol could have had, but at the expense of the freedom of real choices. Let us look back.
The political deafening fireworks and the Samurai swordfight between former allies today could have been avoided. But such is political destiny - it is written in the stars or it is not.
Consider that if Congressman Edgar Chatto and Congressman Roberto Cajes run together as governor and vice governor respectively, Vice governor Julius Herrera for 1st District congressman, Governor Erico Aumentado as 2nd District Representative and Arthur Yap as unopposed 3rd District congressman - everything would have been nice and dandy for Lakas-Kampi.
But then the people would have yawned on May 10, 2010 and only the national presidential elections giving spice to the menu.
But such is Bohol's political life - so fated that an irresistible force named Chatto and an immovable object called Aumentado had to crash into the Clash of Titans. The province of Bohol became too small for these two political giants to co-exist as power is largely indivisible.
So in truth the Chatto-Cajes-Relampagos-Yap grouping and Fridays newly-minted coalition called the Grand Alliance for Bohol's Sustainable Development are really just great specimens in the Art of Political Survival.
Wounded pride and hearts were the casualties in the exchange of poisoned darts, sharpened arrows, killer blades and piercing bayonets between and among former allies who used to drink red wine and enjoy sweet music in their days of bonded friendship and common goals.
Words like smiling assassin, Judas Escariot, Brutus and Pontius Pilates - uttered in their most derogatory meanings were used by one just as they were used by the other.
Which of the kettle and pot is more black than the other is in the eye of the beholder.
There are few pains of course, that can equal the betrayal of a trusted friend. Both camps accuse the other of the same - and they justify their new found alliances like the products of the phrase that "necessity is the mother of invention".
Governor Rico Aumentado, every one knows, was torn between his loyalty to Lakas-GMA, his filial ties with his former Speaker as House Deputy in presidential candidate of the NP senator Manny Villar and his long-time and repeated promise to his vice governor Julius Herrera to inherit the mantel of governorship of the fabled island that is Bohol.
Congressman Chatto's bid for the governorship, he wanted to be assured himself because he could not afford being hemmed in many fronts by allies (only in name) but whose political agenda may have been diametrically opposed to his.
So he had to coalesce with the LDP in order to have his political soul mate former governor Rene Relampagos to lock in the 1st District by running for congressman and a moneyed Arthur Yap in the 3rd district. He also had to endorse a Cajes surrogate candidate in the 2nd District to minimize his political losses in that District.
The eruption of war between Aumentado and Chatto was not only predicted but is also inevitable. The cementing of the Grand Alliance for Bohol's Sustainable Development was just a confirmation of an on going informal coalition between politicians of common interests. It was like an announced marriage after a live-in relationship.
It is hard to put a value judgment on who played Brutus first in what is purely an intra-party family quarrel. All we know is that "politics is always addition" and that "politics is the art of the possible."
And the first basic instinct of a political animal - is survival. There are no tomorrows for those who die today.
Verily, from hereon, bombs will be detonated every day in a spectacle that will rival a Cecille B. De Mille production or a Steven Spielberg thriller. Boholanos will have to develop a keen sense of discernment from the flood of facts, half-truths and outright lies that will be standard fare as we move one day at a time to the fateful May 10.
People will have to search with the lamplight in the haystack - for the proverbial needle - representing the politician who says what he means and means what he says.
Words are cheap these days and alliances are as fragile as a woman's hymen.
Politicians shake with the right hand with a dagger on the left - we have sadly learned through the years.
There are no permanent political friends - only permanent interests is a phrase we have learned to accept in the kind of politics we have been forced to endure through the years.
The scenario would have been perfect as a Last Round scene in a boxing bout between great alliances except that a clown came in and colored the scene funny.
City mayor Dan Lim, who "generally speaking is generally speaking" applied as part of the Alliance's head of the Speaker's Bureau. Frankly, the Alliance could have done without him - after all he claims to be head of a city with only 50,000 voters which is not even 10% of the 730,000 registered voters in the province.
The discredited Mayor who is famed worldwide for acts seen as graft and corruption, criminal protection, foul language and with bad manners and wrong conduct should be needed by the Alliance like a hole in the head.
Mayor Dan Lim could be the secret recruiter of fans for the Alliance's perceived common enemy - the front running Congressman Edgar Chatto - because every time he opens his mouth campaigning for the alliance, the listener votes for Chatto. He is local politic's Mr. Kiss of Death.
After all, he is a perennial congressional loser and he is probably using the Alliance to prepare his next step which is to go for the 1st district congressional seat - assuming he wins his reelection fight against Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso (in a fight dubbed as "Limdan " versus "Toto-o)". What does Kagawad Oscar Glovasa have to say now about that - an act has been done by the mayor that seems to place an obituary on Glovasa's candidacy for the 1st district?
In another of his pukish reply to the question that he may perhaps be neglecting his city campaign by going around Bohol for the Alliance, the cocky Mayor said the interests of the many supercedes his self interest. But if he is eyeing the congressional seat in 2013, isn't that statement a lot of sentimental B.S.?
What we are saying is that alliances are expected and necessary in political fights where the race is for the higher votes for victory.
But the Grand Alliance can stand by itself without any help from a mayor whose credibility and reputation have been tattered not just in the province but in many parts of the country like Manila Cebu, Davao and Iloilo and others , as a lady radio caller said yesterday.
"Are you from Bohol? Isn't it that your City Mayor there has such a bad reputation?" was a uniform question asked of her, said she.
The Grand Alliance could have a "grander" view of what a Spokesperson should be. Don't you think?
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