Did it fly too high?

Strange bedfellows, indeed. That is what comes to mind when one sees reports, and photos of the so-called coalition between the Liberal and Nacionalista parties in the national arena. Old politicians may even say this is something unbelievable, considering that ever since the country became serious about politics, Nacionalistas and Liberals had always been as difficult to mix as oil and water.

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But yesterday we saw the son and heir of the late dictator, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. looking like the proverbial cat that had swallowed the canary, grinning from ear to ear as he announced the coming together of the two parties. Of course coalitions between political parties happen all the time, but not parties to which the sons of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Benigno Aquino Jr. belong. As Bongbong amusedly said, this was something very unusual, indeed.

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The first time I became aware of such things as political parties, what I remember was that there were only two in our country, the Liberals and the Nacionalistas. I think I was in high school when an independent candidate for president came out, but I do not now remember what happened to him, because things went back to the Nacionalista-Liberal monopolies again. It was only after some changes in the Constitution when other parties came in, and later we even had the confusing party list groups, that are now giving the Commission on Election a headache.

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Well, the political season is now on us and from hereon, expect conversations in any gathering you attend to wind up with politics as the subject matter. This will go on until election day in May, 2013, no matter what the Comelec will do to remind everyone that the actual campaign period is still months away. At the moment, however, we can expect only the wildest speculations as to the line-ups, the slogans and the intrigues that are inescapable parts of Politics, Philippine-Style.

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I almost applauded when I saw the report that the Makati City government is filing charges against nine persons who have been identified as the ones who had made trouble at the demolition site in Brgy. Guatamela, and caused injuries to some policemen. It was very clear in the TV footages how viciously the alleged protestors were fighting the law enforcers. Somehow, it is hard to believe that those who did that were real residents of the city-owned property. Officials disclosed that all the bona fide homeowners had accepted a P24,000 allocation to be used for their relocation. So they must have accepted the money in bad faith, or were being paid to make trouble.

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Another feature of the political season is the surfacing of charges against those running for office, or even those who have members of their families perceived to have an edge in the coming battle. Take the case of Dr. Elenita Binay, the wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who used to be mayor of Makati, after her husband, and before her son. She is now being probed for an alleged anomalous contract involving P72 million for which the bidding was claimed by the Commission on Audit to be rigged. COA officials are themselves testifying against Mrs. Binay.

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Bacolod is also host to one of those anomalous deals involving the super-priced flyover in which, thankfully, our local official had no hand in. Residents probably remember that the construction of the flyover, plus another one, supposed to be built at Araneta Street, was just sprung upon us by the national government. National officials took charge of building and spending for it. And even if, as I recall, our local government officials did not even seem to favor it, it was erected nonetheless.

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And now here comes Senator Serge Osmeña announcing that this is another project of the past administration that could be considered “plunderous.” Osmeña says the flyover at Lacson Street, that cost P350 million, should have cost only P150 million. Just imagine, how many more infrastructure projects could have been undertaken from the balance of P200 million! But that was a national government idea, neither our local officials or our residents were consulted. So who pocketed the difference? To think that the spanking government center building cost P390 or so, compared to a mere flyover bridge, with no landscaping, no partitions, no restrooms, etcetera. Osmeña hints that a plunder case is coming up. Against whom? Get with it, Senator!*

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