UNA’s demise

Two months to the filing of Certificates of Candidacy and seven months from thence to Election Day, the coup plotters at the Occidental Negros Capitol have already been exposed. That’s a lot of time for a coup to prosper but also plenty of time for effective response.

Unlike in the past when a candidate does not know his allies or opponents until a few months to actual political combat, the new set of election rules create a scenario of knowing who one’s friends are and who are stabbing one in the back. At least, now, one is prepared.

For us in media, we hear plenty of inside information but we tend to keep them secret until the moment is ripe to reveal them. Sometimes we become part of the drama and we relish the game of speculation.

At this stage where Vice Governor Lim-ao Alvarez has already unsheathed his sword for a coup at the Capitol, his actuations will now be judged in relations to his quest. Even the murder charge against his son, Paul, the mayor of Ilog, will take a political twist; the defense becomes political survival.

The unfolding events since May 2012 all point to this day of his declaration of war against some one he called his friend, Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. Now that description of his relationship can hardly be considered friendly or that of an ally.

Marañon, ever showing a relaxed and controlled posture, has welcomed the development. Others are “shocked” at the news, although it had been expected but, somehow, the declaration of Alvarez shifted the political fulcrum and direction of the Negros alliance.   

On the other hand, whatever Alvarez says and does, will be construed as a firing shot with intent to destroy Marañon. That hardly can be treated as friendly.

The mayors who are now exposed to be allies of Alvarez will be in the same boat as their new leader. The list of the Alvarez camp can no longer play both ends of the pole but will have now to contend with being an opponent of the Capitol. The repercussions will show themselves in due time.

The new alignment has one inevitable result – the demise of UNA. There is no more united Negros political group and the disintegration of the monolith that was nurtured by the nucleus Nationalist Peoples Coalition is a dead duck in the water.

What is sad is that the destruction of UNA came from within, from political ambitions that, in due course, will be revealed as to the real intent.

After what the NPC did to Marañon, I doubt strongly whether the NPC in this province will be trusted. If the NPC can do this to Marañon, who is among its original members and who worked so hard for the party, then nobody in the NPC can be safe. Each one of them can be sacrificed in the altar of convenience and impulse, or worst, in furtherance of one’s interest rather than of party interest.

What was done to Marañon, can be fatal to NPC. The party held meetings and made decisions without him, new members were sworn in and developments were published without his knowledge although he was supposed to be the provincial chairman. Now distrust will prevail behind the backslapping, handshakes and smiles. One can no longer be certain that the man smiling at you is a friend or a foe.

Be that as it may, the battle for the 2013 political combat will be bloody. I am certain that those who followed the lure of money will find no peace. They made true the suspicion, often given as s joke, that UNA is nothing but Negros United Allowance. They are there for the allowance.

Their days in NPC will be shaky and their stay with the NPC will be as long and as good as they are usable. In effect, nobody is safe or secure within the NPC which used to be the mainstay of the Negros political unity and showcase of stability.

Political patronage is the primary excuse for switching parties. That is a national tragedy and an endemic political disease. There is really no such thing as party loyalty or principle. A politician’s word has become synonymous with deceit. Can they blame the voters if they, too, have no loyalty but pledges to whoever carries the bigger purse?

The event in the Congress last Monday on the RH bill, for instance, was not a matter of conscience, principle or belief but money. Congressmen summoned to Malacanang went there with empty bags like beggars and when they returned to Congress they showed their shamelessness.

If people believe their congressmen sell their votes like prostitutes, who can we blame? We can only lament that trust in our institutions and leaders are gone.*  

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