Espino, Perez, Parayno for Urdaneta City Mayor?

BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA 

I recently rubbed elbows at the meeting of the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines –Pangasinan Chapter new Urdaneta City Vice Mayor Julio F. Parayno III and new Pozorrubio Vice Mayor Ernesto Salcedo.

The gathering was held at Jeck’s in Dagupan City.

I said the duo were “new” since Parayno became the second most powerful man in the Cattle City when he assumed office in June 30, 2016 while Salcedo, the highest vote getter alderman, was catapulted to the vice mayoralty after the town mayor Artemio Chan was sacked by the Ombudsman and replaced by Vice Mayor Ernesto Go, a bitter rival, for the mayorship.

Parayno answered my query if he will run for the top post of Urdaneta City after mayor Amadeo "Bobom" Gregorio Perez IV bowed out as his third term expired in the 2019 election.

 Parayno, a young law graduate of Saint Louis University in Baguio City, told me that in the next election it would be a tandem of Perezes versus the pair  of Paraynos clashing in the burgeoning city. 

MARQUEE BETS - Pangasinan's 5th District Congressman
 Amado Espino, Jr (above photo) and former Ambassador
 Amadito Perez, Jr. 

“Paano maging Paraynos versus Perezes?” I posed in the vernacular.

He said the probable bets would be former Ambassador Amadito Perez, Jr. and daughter Councilor Tet Perez- Naguiat (wife of former PAGCOR Chair Cristino Naguiat) and him and his nephew Jimmy D. Parayno the present councilor of the city.

Parayno told me that his deceased father former Vice Mayor Julio Parayno, a man of the masses, should be the mayor of the 132, 940 populated (2015 census) city but gave way to kin Dr. Rodoldfo E. Parayno. He cited the latter ran for the mayorship and won as the quintessential politico Amadito Perez ended his third term and became the congressman of the 5^th District.

Parayno told me he can also seek reelection while Fifth District Congressman Amado T. Espino chooses to run versus the "ole man" Perez, his bête noire, for the mayoralty seat.

Parayno said to us media men that it is the dream of the solon, who told him, to be a mayor of the 34 villages city.

Espino and Amadito Perez have a legal rift being heard by the court after then Governor Espino sued with libel the octogenarian (or is it nonagenarian?) Perez after he defamed Espino at the meeting de avance of gubernatorial candidate Mark Cojuangco at Lingayen Plaza in 2016 Election.

Cojuangco was defeated heavily by the son and name sake of Espino on that election.

In case Espino runs for mayor, political pundits see the District would be seeing outgoing Urdaneta Mayor Bobom Perez clashing with outgoing Binalonan Mayor Ramon “Mon-mon” Guico III for the eight towns and a city’s Congressional District.

“Nobody is more viable to run in the district with these two names,” Edwin Bautista, a media practitioner, said.

***

Edwin, my student in political science at Lyceum Northwestern University, is the pet peeve of Pozurrobio Vice Mayor Salcedo who told us that he could not forget Edwin suing him at the court because he accused the then No.1 Councilor for rampant vote buying in the 2016 election. Edwin was No. 9 or a hundred of votes shy to the No. 8 Councilor.

“A vacancy in No. 1 post means I’ll be the No.8 dad in the town that could put a stop on my series of failed streaks in the post,” Edwin told then his best friend broadcaster Harold Barcelona about his plan, strategy, and chutzpah.

But Murphy’s Law had its way, son of a gun, Salcedo became Vice Mayor after the Ombudsman fired Mayor Chan for allowing somebody to solemnize marriage and pulled up by operation of law Vice Mayor Go and Salcedo to the top two posts of the local government unit.

Now Edwin’s fellow media man and fellow perennial losing candidate for the councilor's post Blas Ople’s factotum and Marcos Era's journalist and book author Mel Jovellanos was recommended by the new vice mayor, an independent bet, to be the No. 8 dad.

“How can Mel be the No. 8 when he was a tail ender and I got thousands of votes in that election than him?” Edwin, as Harold narrated, wildly, er, emphatically posed to friends.

“He who caused the vacancy recommend through his party or the Sanggunian if he is independent,” I quipped to Publisher Ronel de Vera, a law graduate, the legal dictum in the Local Government Code of 1991 I taught to the classmates of Edwin while he was taking a pee in the comfort room away from my lecture on that topic while Salcedo gave us media men, Manaoag Vice Mayor Domie Ching, and Vice Mayor Parayno a smirk of a smile of “Sweet Revenge” to Edwin where the former could not forget telling the Municipal Trial Court’s judge that Salcedo flooded the villages with “sets of palanggana or plastic basin.

Susmariosep, this how luck and fate ensued in local politics a politics where my favorite House Speaker, not the rabble rousing Joe de Venecia nor the arrogant Pantaleon Alvarez, but the non-pareil  Tip “All Politics is Local” O’Neil (Democrat) whose anecdotes loaded book "Man of the House with William Novak"  gave me a view point how politics could make or unmake a person.

NEW VEEMS - Author (center) with Pozorrubio new Vice Mayor Ernesto
Salcedo (extreme left)  and Urdaneta City Vice Mayor Julio F. Parayno III .

***

When the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in January 30 to March 6 this year took over the War on Drugs, narcotics proliferate again in the market thus the members of the Philippine National Police were called back to continue the fight against the peddlers. In October 10 this year President Rodrigo Duterte issued a memorandum circular pulling out again the superior in number cops and hailing the small in number PDEA’s agents.

Evidently, the decision of the president was anchored on the Social Weather Station polls that showed his popularity rates cascaded to 18 percent after some policemen were charged executing innocent individuals like Kian delos Santos and Carl Arnaiz and other adverse issues that haunted his administration as played to the helm by the acrimonious Philippines media?

Was Duterte impulsive to drag out the PNP despite survey outfit Pulse Asia poll bannered “88% of Pinoys support war on drugs; 73% say EJKs happen—survey” by Philippine Daily Inquirer 's issue last October 16?

Would the war on narcs weakened as the PDEA has only 2000 personnel nationwide while the police have 175,000 men literally implementing the “long arm of the law”?

Here was my comment at Face Book after Pulse Asia showed its polls taken almost on the same dates with that of its rival SWS:

Anong nangyari?

 SWS Duterte’s 48% popularity versus Pulse’s 73%.

SWS 23-27, 2017 polls showed President Duterte got 67% (Satisfied) 14% (Undecided), 19% (Di -satisfied) or 67 minus 19 equals 48% net Satisfaction rating. Pulse Asia’s 80% (Satisfied) 13% (Undecided), 7% (Dissatisfied) or 80% minus 7% equals 73% net Satisfaction rating. 48 % and 73% ran smack on that days issues, as stated by SWS, issues like the Senate probe into the shipment of P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China, in which the President’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, and his son-in-law, Manases Carpio, appeared. Both denied allegations they were involved in smuggling.
Another was the “revelation” of Duterte that Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th had a secret bank account in Singapore, which the senator disproved. The President later admitted that he just “invented” the bank account numbers that he had announced in public supposedly to “bait” his critic.
The killings of teens Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo de Guzman also dominated the headlines in August and early September, fanning public outrage and criticism of Duterte’s war on drugs, and others.

Who was telling the truth in these two poll outfits?

Read my blog/column:  PulseAsia more credible than Social Weather Station

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com).