HRA tag will haunt Gov. Espino's supporters

Braganza (Extreme Right) and Espino  (2nd from Left) exchanged notes years ago.

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has been O.A. or over-acting on her six months administrative suspension meted by the Office of the President.

She holed- in at her office when different national bodies (like the Department of Finance) have ordered some department heads under her watch to coordinate all officials transaction to acting Governor Agnes A. Magpale - the duly recognized governor by the national government.

With the acquiescence of the heads, the smooth flow of the provincial government transactions in Cebu have been maintained and anarchy has been avoided.

So what’s the agenda of Garcia?
 Her agenda is to procrastinate her stay there by whining and belly aching of political prosecution from the Liberal Party, sponsoring Christmas party for the elderly, hosting political candidates and wannabe like former president Joseph Estrada who is running for Manila mayor and incumbent Vice President Jojo Binay who has the moist eye for the 2016 presidential derby. 
All of these land her on the national papers and television which bodes well for her in case, she runs for the senate in 2016 and media mileage for Estrada and Binay.

Binay has the gumption to tell Garcia not to step down as she questioned the legality of her suspension in the Supreme Court.

Masyado naman kayong trapo Binay, Estrada, and Garcia. Its clear you're exploiting your sandbagging at the capitol.

*** 

A veteran politician explained to me the other side of a coin after Pangasinan has been listed under High Risk Areas (HRA) comes election campaign time after I told him that it bodes well for Pangasinan to be under the HRA.

“Its good for our province since augmentation of police force from Manila will deter and mitigate guns for hire that have snapped the lives of 199 persons from January to October this year if I based it on what Former provincial director Sonny Versoza told me recently,” I told him.

The politico smiled and told me that the other sharp edge of the HRA sword is it could also be a bane to the supporters of Governor Amado T. Espino.

“They would be harassed. Their monies, that the police suspected they will use to vote buy, will be confiscated. Espino men, who would be suspected as bullies, would be neutralized. The governor would be paralyzed in this election because of HRA,” he explained.

He said the assassination of Infanta Mayor Ruperto Martinez has sealed the coffin of Pangasinan as a high risk area.

We both agreed that Pangasinan could kiss goodbye its national bid for the prestigious Gawad Pamana ng Lahi (GPL) after it bagged the number one plum in the regional category in Region 1. 
***

Have both these vice mayoralty bets committed a stupid blunder when they face an electoral uncertainty after they played power play to the incumbent mayor in the province?

Provincial official (PO) has been suspected to undermine before the sitting mayor because he wants his son to run either in the posts of the mayoralty or vice mayoralty.

Mayor was suspended.

Now P.O. brought the vice mayor (VM) who sits as the acting mayor to the governor. P.O wants the VM to be the mayoralty bet of the governor. But the vice mayor asks the governor to talk alone with him because VM did not trust P.O, according to my source.

VM told the governor she has no wherewithal to run for an expensive mayoralty contest against the suspended mayor who is moneyed.

Suspended mayor learned that VM has been undermining him in cahoots with P.O.

 The suspended mayor, who was a former ward of President Benigno Aquino III in the latter security agency during the administration of his mother former President Cory, did not finish serving his two months. He returned, like Douglas MacArthur, after three weeks at the consternation of those provincial officials who engineered his suspension.

During the last day of the filling of candidacy, the mayor thought it was payback time to punish the suspected scheming VM. He asked his wife to file her candidacy for the vice mayoralty race. It means husband and wife run for the two top posts in the town.

***

Every political spectators that are privy on the politics of that town, where the mayor has put a lot of improvements, knows that the son of P.O and the vice mayor who seeks for  re-election will have no China man’s chance to beat the wife of the mayor.

“Kawawa silang dalawa, walang kalaban si mayor, shoo-in na siya. Kaya lahat ng milyons niya gagamitin sa dalawa para pulbosin sila sa election.

A veteran bursar in the province added that hindi lang karma ang inabot ng dalawa, kundi sampal pa sa kanila kasi next year mag-asawa na ang mayor and vice mayor.

“The mayor likes the vice mayor to be his tandem. But he smarted when he suspected that the VM has been undermining him when the VM acted as the mayor during his suspension,” another source whispered to me.

Another powerful politician in another town told me: After sa mga raids, suspension, at kahihiyan  na ginawa ng mga kalaban ni mayor, dito lang sa political catastrophe hahantong ang tele-nobela sa bayan na iyon.

Susmariosep, a scheme that goes awry.

(You can read my selected thought-provoking columns athttp://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)