Petulant or principled?

The no-show of 3 rd District Rep. Albee Benitez in the local consultative meeting of provincial officials with Liberal Party presidential candidate, Mar Roxas, speaks volumes.

Albee who happens to be the LP provincial chair and who has been missing in action in past party activities since Mar's endorsement has made tongues wag.

At first, Albee's absence was shrugged off since he was supposedly on a trip abroad. But there was no escaping anymore when he did not show up again in last Friday's gathering with Mar and in his district to boot.

There have been reports that Albee did not like Mar's decision to support the candidacy of Gov. Freddie Maranon and Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer as the governor's running-mate, without first consulting local LP members.

If that is true, Albee probably forgot that his chairmanship of LP in the province has nothing to do with his being the acknowledged chair of the local Love Negros.

If Mar Roxas felt an alliance with Freddie and Jeffrey could help boost his chances, Albee should have supported that move if he is a real party man. And its not like Mar did it without basis since the last election showed that despite the power of gold, guns and goons, UNA remains the ruling party in the province.

Albee should look beyond personal interests and focus in working to ensure their administration party stays as the ruling party in the next six years.

But if he feels Mar's alliance with Freddie was a direct insult to him that is also understandable. However, the proper thing to do is to resign from being the LP chair and give it to someone else who is willing to work and help the party leadership attain its goals.

Snubbing local events where Mar is invited portrays an image of a petulant child who was deprived of his lollipop.

He has two choices here. Resign from LP or remain as the party's provincial chair but respect the LP leadership and work for it. There is no sense in sulking. Sometimes, we just need to accept that we can't always have what we want.

I've been told that Albee eyes the Senate someday and I've always believed he can be a good senator if given a chance and when the time is right. Thus, whatever actions he makes now must be calculated otherwise he will altogether lose that charm and he must remember that majority of Negrenses are backing Mar's candidacy.

Lately though, someone also told me that instead of the Senate, Albee is said to be eyeing the House Speakership. That too is not far-fetched especially since he has been in Congress for the last two terms and has probably made a lot of allies.

And again, any actions he makes now towards the ruling party will carry a lot of weight when the next Congress opens.

Come to think of it, Albee should look at the bigger picture and see how gentlemanly Freddie was towards him and other Love Negros officials for publicly stating that UNA will not field opponents in some of the districts where the governor feels the present official has well represented their constituents.

Albee also has to listen to the sentiments of other Love Negros officials like Kabankalan Mayor Isidro Zayco who already said he wants to see Freddie finish his last term.

Freddie, and Jeffrey too, have done a lot of good for this province and enjoy the support of many, including those from his own Love Negros party. Why complicate matters? Just because you felt you were by-passed? It has nothing to do with that.

Mar's decision to forge an alliance with UNA is for the party's victory and of course his own. Why would he not when all the aces are there for his taking?

I guess Albee has to make some fast decision about this. Either he is in or he is out. There is no in between. A conclusion has to be made. Is he being petulant, or he is a principled man. Well, as they say in Filipino – abangan ang susunod na kabanata.*

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