OPINION: Political year

BLOGISTA
By Cha Monforte

We’re definitely on political times down the road. Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario said it so Monday during a Kapihan. On the broadside, he described the spread of malicious text messages on the alleged Sportivo overprice scam as one political intrigue, even while he dared the unknown cabal to come out into the open and then prove and substantiate allegations. Veteran and seasoned Igacos politician, Boardmember Artemio San Juan has no reservation in saying that this year is when intrigues will fly thick and fast.
Good for Gov. RDR and BM San Juan. They said what should be expected. Recalling back during the gubernatorial reign of Joecab in Comval, this is the same time of his last term term when he got an ultra-filibustering and obstructionist majority of boardmembers led now Gov. Chiongkee Uy. Joecab’s executive budget was re-enacted for the majority’s intentioned failure to approve. On a hailstorm of allegations vented by Joecab’s oppositionists over the media, new budget approval was snagged while the issue of pork barrel for direct disbursement by the legislative department landed on COA’s frying pan. The cooked menu was named disallowance.
That was history though but preluding Joecab’s electoral defeat. The lesson learned is that towards halfway of a term is already a political season and politicians have to start politicking in the open. It’s now time to cast that phrase out, “malayo pa ang eleksyon, trabaho muna.” It’s no-no now. Such is good for the last year. The pundits are after all right. If outsiders and challengers could not make a dent in the public mind later this year, they could not break even with the incumbents considering the latter’s administration advantages. January 2010 is time for premature electioneering already.
So with this, the choice of Comval Lakas to make this month, January as the time to decide whether the congressional standard-bearer is Vice Gov. Ramil Gentugaya or congressman’s daughter Boardmember Maricar Zamora-Apsay is just right and fitting. At least the one who is left out by the party has still the time to jump to opposition’s ship and dovetail with the national opposition presidentiables and senatoriables. That way he or she could still have plenty of time to organize a districtwide or provincewide political structure and machinery.
The case of former Davao del Norte Gov. Yayong Gementiza is an exemption. He was shoved out from Lakas on the rather eleventh hour, two months before the 2007 elections, while he was the sitting governor. When he jumped to United Opposition, it was not late as he had all the provincial activities and government manpower and logistics served for his reelection. But RDR had more logistics, men, media, bailiwick, techniques and organization than what a personalistic Yayong could muster for a win.
The Big Ramil-Maricar Problem of Comval Lakas is different. If it’s BM Maricar now, then VG Ramil is shunted out from provincial-sponsored activities and mass gatherings from this month up to the election ban time as it would be a duty of of Gov. Uy in the tandem to expose and promote Maricar as his runningmate. VG Ramil could still invoke his inclusion being a VG to whatever provincial activity but it would be a sneaky one, if not a cat-and-mouse affair- he’ll appear first onstage while Maricar is still away and coming.
But that’s still an iringan win-win solution while VG Ramil holds his ground as a Lakas member banking on the possible free zone stance or lobotomy of Uy on the last hour. But it’s better for VG Ramil to jump ship to the opposition on this scenario as he has his own logistics and two mayores and the people’s opposition temper on the waiting to favor him. But a longstanding-Lakas member Ramil to the opposition? It’s too unlikely, but just maybe.
On the other hand, if the choice is VG Ramil, the same scenario would hold true to the provincial activities except that BM Maricar is a lesser political mortal for constant isolation. The big problem is that she has a card, in fact a wild card who could throw a money wrench to Lakas in Comval Uno- Cong. Way Kurat Zamora, a stage-, propa- and gimmick-savvy and most popular politician in Comval, while he has three mayores at his side. Which could trigger a chain reaction to District 2, and voila- provincewide! Being that, Cong. Way Kurat is good opposition material and a potential regional opposition chairman, from whom funding flows in the likes of Joe Tejado during Erap’s presidential running in 2001 elections.
But a Way Kurat to the opposition? He who delivered over 13,000 votes margin to GMA over FPJ in 2004 elections and who consistently participated in slaying the four impeachment complaints against GMA? It’s still likely since GMA has already been repaid by Way Kurat’s votes. Bayad na. A plain citizen Way Kurat could have the best potential of becoming a cabinet member, chairman or undersecretary of a national agency under a new President coming from the opposition. On this good scenario, Way Kurat has nothing to lose even if Maricar loses. But he has more to gain if Maricar wins. (For online edition, visit my blog at: https://cha4t.wordpress.com, for comments and reactions, text 09069104553, e-mail: chamonforte@yahoo.com)

NEWS: “Expected, walang nagbabago sa Congress”- Oyo Uy

On House junking of 4th impeachment complaint

dec 4

The Tagum City youthful councilor reported to be one of the congressional potentials in Davao del Norte’s 1^st District has made a verbal snipe to the House in the wake of the junking on the fourth impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.

“Expected, walang nagbabago sa Congress,” Councilor De Carlo “Oyo” Uy said yesterday, apparently not hiding his feeling of frustration over the country’s legislative branch of government.

Davao del Norte congressmen Arrel Olano (District 1) and Anton Lagdameo (District 2) voted yes for the junking of the impeachment complaint during the casting of votes that ended Wednesday dawn following seven hours of floor deliberations.

Compostela Valley congressmen Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora (District 1) and Rommel Amatong (District 2) also participated in the killing of the impeachment complaint.

Councilor Uy added that while the Congress did it local officials should remain to be unperturbed and continue exerting best efforts for public service.

Oyo, son of City Mayor Rey Uy, had earlier declared that the congressional post that last-termer Olano would be leaving by 2010 is a possibility, saying he is also qualified to gun for it.

But pundits also bruited about Oyo’s possible running as city vice mayor in what Davao City Vice Mayor Sara had accomplished in 2007 polls to tandem now with her father Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

In the last 2007 polls Oyo placed Top 3 among councilor bets in a 12-0 landslide victory of Lakas-CMD city slate. At present, he is the president of Metro Shuttle-Davao Reyer Transport Services. He is a Business Management graduate of the La Salle University in Manila.

Boardmember Roger “Dangpanan” Israel and former vice governor Anthony del Rosario, son of Governor Rodolfo del Rosario, were reported to be also interested to run for the post that Lakas-CMD provincial top guns considered to be open and not a subject of the party’s rule on equity of the incumbent by 2010.

Meanwhile, Israel said that the opposition just lacked numbers to stage a good fight to push the latest impeachment.

“Walang laban, it was another wake-up call for the opposition to unite for 2010,” he added..

“It’s now or never… I’m not getting younger now, baka maiwanan tayo,” he said in text message when asked on his congressional ambition. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

NEWS: Tagum dads withhold persona non grata verdict to NDC-Tagum execs

After three snubs

nov 4

Majority of the Tagum City councilors in their session yesterday morning have decided to give one more week for the officials of the controversy-wracked North Davao College-Tagum Foundation, Inc to refute and prove why they should not be declared persona non grata and their licenses and accreditations not revoked after snubbing for three times the city council invitations to appear on their sessions and hearing.

The NDC-Tagum officials led by the school’s dean of the college of nursing Dr. Roberto Palec were already present yesterday in the session hall but they were not called in during the question hour and remained seated until the session adjourned.

Also several complaining nursing graduates and their parents were present as reported in the live coverage of DXDN Radyo Ukay-Tagum City.

They have been up in arms against the NDC school administration for allegedly requiring nursing graduates to take first a P10,000-worth nursing review and P7,000-worth mock board examination at the school before their credentials could be issued to them.

Instead, the committee report of the committee whole was read to apprise the audience on the recommendation of passing seven proposed resolutions that ostensibly sanctions the school that could potentially lead to its closure.

The report narrated the grounds and failure of the school officials to respond to the invitations of the city council in their sessions and committee meetings and hearings.

It said that even the NDC’s reply letter with scarce reasons and signatories reached the City Hall already lapsed of the Oct. 28 deadline imposed by the city council.

Among the recommendations heard were the proposed resolutions declaring the school officials persona non grata in the city, urging the city mayor for the revocation of the school’s affiliation to the city, demanding for the refund of the collected P10,000 fees for nursing review and the P7,000 fees for the mock board examinations, recommending to the Center of Higher Education (Ched) for the non-renewal of the school’s accreditation in its nursing course, and demanding for the release of the school credentials to the complaining nursing graduates.

Councilor Joey Millan reiterated yesterday the committee of the whole’s recommendations.

The committee met last Thursday, Oct 30 at 5:00 P.M. at the vice mayor’s office. Present were

Councilors Millan, Mylene Baura, Vicente Eliot Sr, Joedel Caasi, Nicandro Suaybaguio, Francisco Remitar and ABC President Alfredo Pagdilao. Councilor Allan Zulueta was accordingly on official business at that time. Vice Mayor Allan Rellon signed the report.

Millan informed that with the “controlling facts and consistent with the committee report” the city council has already decided and deemed that the NDC officials “have waived their rights to air their side.”

But he said that the resolutions are not yet approved and bared that their consensus is to give seven days to the respondent officials “to refute and show proof” why the city council should not act on the said resolutions.

“The resolutions would still follow the three-reading principle,” he said even as he stressed on the need for due process on theb prodding of Councilor Rey Salve.

Millan then moved to calendar the resolutions in the unfinished business in the next Monday’s regular session. It was unanimously approved.

It also requested for the presence of Ched representatives and the complaining nursing graduates and parents (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

NEWS: Objection raised vs NDC’s affiliation to Davnor PG

Row on NDC nursing graduates, City Council snubbed again

oct 28

Davao del Norte Boardmember Gregorio Facula registered his objection in yesterday’s session of the provincial board to the measure that would open the province-run hospitals for the medical training of the nursing students of the controversy-wracked North Davao College (NDC)- Tagum Foundation, Inc.

He said he was opposing the resolution approving the contract of affiliation between the NDC-Tagum and the provincial government pending the resolution of the row between the nursing graduates and their parents and the NDC at Apokon, Tagum City.

Nursing graduates and their parents have been up in arms recently against the NDC school administration for allegedly requiring graduates to take first a P10,000-worth nursing review and mock board examination at the school before their credentials would be issued to them.

The city council had invited NDC’s officials to shed light on the issue during question hour in its last week’s session with the complainants but the NDC officials did not attend.

Yesterday, the city council and complainants were reportedly snubbed again of their invitation by the NDC officials, who accordingly are out of town or in Manila since last week.

Hearing of NDC’s second snub over DXDN live coverage on the city council’s session in the morning yesterday, Boardmember Facula dared colleagues saying that “there are matters we need to clarify on how (NDC officials) handle our constituents” before acting on the measure on NDC’s asking a favor from the provincial government.

“Pending that, I’m registering my objection for now,” Facula added.

Ten of his colleagues though still approved the measure. Committee on laws chairman Boardmember Artemio San Juan sponsored the measure. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

I’m lifting my 10-day delayed posting and will return to 2-day delayed posting

TO MY REGULAR VISITORS:

Beginning today I’m lifting my 10-day delayed imposition and will return to 2-day delayed posting for the reason that a rectification has been recently made by a party who reprinted my essays with giving due credit to Rural Urban News (RUN) and who even dropped my name alleging I’m one of their kongko media ilk.

Happy reading once again. But it’s good you’ll join with my ever growing blog subscribers and yearly pledgers who get daily updates.

Cha Monforte

Editor-Director, RUN

NEWS: 9:30 PM siren for 10 PM youth curfew mulled in Tagum City

A 9:30 P.M. siren to warn for a proposed 10:00 P.M. curfew for the youths and minors has been proposed at the Tagum City Council in Monday’s session.

In the bid of nipping at the bud the emerging problem of youth gangs in the city, Councilor and ABC president Alfredo Pagdilao proposed for an imposition of 10 P.M. curfew time for the youths and for this a 9:30 P.M. warning siren would be sounded off for the loitering youths and minors to return to their respective homes.

“Beyond 10:00 P.M. dakop na,” Pagdilao said before his colleagues on privilege motion.

But Pagdilao’s proposal immediately met several opposition voices on Monday.

“Unsay iyang gipasabot, di na manan-aw ug kalingawan ang kabataan sa Freedom Park?” (What does he mean, that the youths would no longer watch festivities at the Freedom Park?), said Ryan Subico, a habal-habal driver said.

A source from University of the Mindanao said that Pagdilao’s proposal is “alarmist” besides that it could immediately make “lonely nights” for city.

During yesterday’s session where the existence of youth gangs was tackled, Pagdilao informed his colleagues that his Barangay Magugpo South has been mulling for a 10:00 P.M. curfew time for the minors as they have been apprehensive over reports of youth gangs that are preying on even on minors.

He said that aside from gangs the city has also been facing the problem of drugs engaged by youths.

Pagdilao though did not specify the maximum age among youths who would included in his coming measure.

But Councilor Raymond Joey Millan immediately favored Pagdilao’s proposal as he urged him to pass first a resolution from Pagdilao’s Association of Barangays Councils (ABC) as guide to the city council.

Pagdilao admitted though that youths from his own barangay who are returning late at night have been reasoning out that they come from nightly festivities held at the Freedom Park. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)

Tagum by the night

BLOGISTA

By Cha Monforte

 As early a little past the twilight each day, bar girls, commonly known as GROs, fresh from bath and clad in sexy attires, can already be seen sitting in a row of chairs in that section of street leading to the Totit-market-slaughterhouse complex. Alas, gising na ang Tagum by the night.

I’m not so really a night owl. I still sport a cellphone about the age of 5110, and I couldn’t yet do a high-tech editor writing online in airconditioned malls or in posh coffee bars with WIFI. Often rice drowns out my dream of buying a laptop. It’s crisis time, then and now.  But I got few friends who give me occasional peeks and perks on new nighttime goings on as they love wine, women and music. Well, I’m going towards the mid 40s, and I often drowse off now in the midst of unrepentant Red Horse or San Mig beer guzzlers. It’s unlike before the 80s and 90s that I could still manage to stagger to get home many cracks of dawn. Those were venturesome youthful days to cherish anyway. Besides the fading youthful vigor, it’s also painful to the pocket to squander meager money earned hard for a living in order to continue writing. To live to write, not the other way around. I’m no sour gripe. 

Such girlie spectacle in the frontage of videoke bars that dotted here and there in the city’s undeclared red light district around the Totit complex is saying that Tagum true to its being a magnetic sub-regional service center is just maintaining the status quo of being the usual nighttime R & R hub of the neighboring municipalities. When money flows in from the youths and infidel husbands from neighboring towns and from militarymen from camps stationed somewhere to the city’s red light district including its flesh trade, the city cashes in on from the “night investors” in effect. They also sustain a living and spark a multiplier for Tagum’s nighttime economy.

By the peaceful vivacity of Tagum’s nighttime I saw for once in recent booze that left me sober for drowsing off enough, Councilor Mylene Baura’s standupper in the City Council about gang wars last week would seem to be mythical issue bordering on unfounded xenophobia on the issue she unduly raised. She could have done more homework to belabor an A-1 info. As also a Solo Maria in Tagum SP like BM Janet Gavina of DavNor SP, perhaps Baura could hammer more meat in privilege speeches on other glaring issues such as the monitoring and compliance on hygiene rules for the CSWs (commercial sex workers), the soft, respectable DSWD and NGO parlance for the prostis and buntogs, or those in in the world’s oldest profession quenching the thirst for lust of men.

But then, she could also rile on the hideous character of the city’s flesh trade, which could be denied of since it is discreet, negotiations-based and a sideline business among GROs that opens up as soon as the owners close their girlie videoke bars past the midnight.

There’s also this unwanted location of internet cafes just adjacent to the girlie bars. Internet cafes which have often the youths and schoolchildren as customers should never be located adjacent or proximate to the bars as they are afforded a good view of the allure, vices and worldly temptations put up by those paying for the sin taxes.

Concerned students would go to 24-hour internet cafes up until around 10 PM for a mix of web research for tomorrow’s assignment, surf, chat or play. Besides that the innocent youths are subject of the bad influence casts by the sight, they are also at risk of the maoys, blankos and lokos from those who have already much of the drink and merrymaking.

But then the councilor can also hit on the breast exposures that happened on webcam inside semi-enclosed cubicles of an internet café just beside a girlie bar in a city. Well, a still sober friend of mine last week chanced one, looking like a coed, chatting with, cajoling a foreigner, perhaps not the usual horny Indian. But maybe she did only bare above her waist so she could run to the nearest 24-hour Western Union outlet. But this is already besides the point, and would need another essay. (For online edition, visit my blog at: https://cha4t.wordpress.com)

 

Davao Trade Expo

The Davao Trade Expo is slated on October 23 to 25 at Davao City. It is a trade exposition meant for the local businesses to do business globally. It is one venue which showcases the competitive and unique products and services of the businesses from the localities notably in Davao Region. The Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been inviting Tagum City and other cities and provinces in the region and other business chambers in Asia to participate in the trade exposition.

Without doubt, this is one rare event to showcase the unique competitiveness of our localities gleaned from products that could potentially capture a market niche, whether local or foreign. The thrust is uniqueness and this is different to the usual agri-trade fair that we have been witnessing each founding feast of a city or of a town.

Exposing the local products or services that have potential to be bought or availed in a wide market is a challenge of every local government in the region. A budget for this is therefore in order, whether or not LGU officials have stake on the products or services to be included in the exposition. After all, when local products or services get customers and clients, the localities in the end get benefited from the business growth of whosoever owned them.(Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

Poor Simo

BLOGISTA

By Cha Monforte

Poor Simo. All for him is only for witnessing. For decades he’s been poor, a small sari-sari owner selling tuba for one. That’s all he knows of for a living, with his wife at his side. He’s illiterate when he arrived during the great migration of Visayans when Mindanao was bannered as the country’s resource frontier. His two children are now married. Both graduated from public high school. His son is now a laborer in Manila. His daughter has married one of town’s typical unemployed who frequents the bilyaran of the public market, or goes to the barrios during pre-fiesta time to bet in a hantak gambling operated for years by a known rogue cop in town.

Poor Simo. He could only smoke a poor man’s cigar popular among the farmers. But he has a backyard garden from where he gets his kamonggay, tangkong, sibuyas, kamatis and rootcrops. At least, when the other goodies he is selling like the Red Horse aren’t consumed by the neighborhood youths who now prefer to play Ran and other online games while browsing their Friendster, download MP3 songs or watch sexy bodies in the Net, he has a green veggie fallback to rely on. Otherwise, old Nong Simo consumes the accessible packs of noodles.

Poor Simo. His hoarse laughter is one consolation he could give to the youths who patronize his store after cracking spirited jokes from a true plebian as he is. At least the youths understand he could adjust to the vagaries of their new culture. Pag-sure uy! Such timely hilarity of Nong Simo shows he’s one keeping abreast with the goings on of today’s youths. On the other hand, he knows much of the latest buzz among local politicians when he’s got the barangay kagawads or government workers drinking wine or beer at his small makeshift store cum residence. Simo is no teetoller. He’s just a sober drinker when asked for a shot by the usual drunkards in his neighborhood leaving his and wife staring even at the wee hours at night. When they have their drinks, Nong Simo can’t close his store by 10 P.M.

Poor Simo. While he’s now having a good time viewing on a TV unit bought by his vacationing son last December and getting the latest news from ABS-CBN or GMA, he still tunes in to AM radio which has been in his side when the broadcasters Freddie Vergara and Teny Banson were still too popular in the airwaves. But the talk that Nong Simo got wind of lately from the radyo de baktas, the word of mouth, which he prefers to believe, is that crumpled P20 bills came raining ordinarily in our highways guarded by combined TMG and cops from delivery and cargo trucks and the three P100 bills from trucks carrying logs with “permits” for the DENR folks during nighttime.

Poor Simo. He has long known about this P20. It was only P5 two decades ago for the pot-bellied buayas. But he doesn’t know yet how much is being dropped from trucks carrying the real hot logs without permits for DENR’s picking. What he has known of since then is that when hands of those on top are caught inside the cookie jar under the media spotlight, corruption trickled down in national scale. Though highwaymen thrive only on crumpled P20 bills, but when it rains of such amount, it pours down the highways that highwaymen could always well afford sending their college students to nursing schools.

Poor Simo. The buayas he has long known of have not been exterminated from the face of the highways. He knows that when night-time guarding buayas flash their flashlights to the truck windshields and quickly moving the light downward pointing to the pavement of the highways, it’s not actually a warning of flagging down the passing truck but a sign for the trucks to drop in the crumbled P20 bill for their uninterrupted passage.

Poor Simo. He’s now thinking that if the highwaymen get their petty loot nowadays uninterrupted, just how pervasive corruption has now become under GMA. Now he’s thinking of the vulnerabilities in the billions of the Katas ng VAT that are dangled here and there and everywhere. Though Nong Simo is old and poor, he’s a thinker, indeed as he is.

Compostela Mayor Rey Castillo must apologize to Gob. Chiongkee Uy for his oversight of not including one of his good friends during the last Friday’s Compostela Araw culmination. The mayor’s oversight not only brings a toll of animosities and unhealthy speculations. It questions the much-touted political unity in Comval… We don’t know if the good mayor could produce his own unity ring made of pure gold from his town’s mines. Bango has long been emptied of gold…. Rural Urban News is offering crash journalism courses for campus journalists and school paper advisers. Txt 09069104553. (For my online edition, visit: https://cha4t.wordpress.com)

A closer look of Tagum’s urban sprawl

Blogista

By Cha Monforte

Lowly tricycle driver Geraclio Awitin (gee, it’s not only PGMA who could single out an example) has made points in justifying that the latest fare increase approved by the City Council is just proper and fitting. It’s not the camel’s back that he broke for this pyrrhic victory of his tricycle driving sector. Rather, it’s the daily backbreaking livelihood of tricycle driving which has allowed him to see the city’s spaces, skylines and limits.

He said that the city has actually a “wide terrain” sewed by lengthy streets and roads. “Hey, look the palengke and terminal are so far from the downtown area,” he gushed. I easily understood his point- that the length between the people’s source of food and entry and exit point and the central business district (CBD) and the government center is one big gas guzzler and it was not the current Mayor Rey Chiong Uy but ex-Mayor Baby Suaybaguio who set this so wide apart.

It was a policy and an executive privilege (just to borrow the gung-ho words from SSS chair Romulo Neri) of the Suaybaguio administration that has screwed down a wide urban sprawl that is now showing cost ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of the city’s spaces. If only today’s Trade Center had remained as a flea market the supply of basic goods and food could have still been walkable in near distance from central employment areas. It matters now to see downtown employees and workers taking one more ride to the public market after the 5:00 P.M. siren to buy the lacking foodstuff they need before finally proceeding home. There’s cost ineffectiveness in this.

From all indications, the passenger tricycles have only been subsidized by this latest fare increase owing to the wide urban sprawl intentioned mindlessly in the past and which is now a costly reality to the city’s residents. The Trade Center has a centrally strategic space, not to mention its skyline, where even a flea market public could be wholesomely integrated to jibe with the commercial, institutional and religious blocks including the public plazas.

Iligan City has its own downtown Palao firmly planted on the ground while Cagayan de Oro City had its downtown Cogon market not relocated but modernized onsite sometime a decade ago. The City of Golden Friendship was only becoming proactive to its urbanization trends that it just created a new public market, the known Agora and refurbished through build-operate-transfer scheme another old one at Carmen to service the new residential enclaves that sprouted later as the city’s urban sprawl crept outward to its wide size at present. The same is true to Davao City’s Agdao and Bankerohan markets. They’re still at least near if not walkable, although there’s more economies of scale in the Big City owing to its 1.2-million population that its fare increase only necessitated a minimum of P1 or P1.50 only.

But past ambition of creating a new wide Tagum quite ostensibly unmade the city’s spatial efficiency of putting up the flea market at the CBD criss-crossed by a gridiron street system that was not yet lengthy until Totit-market-slaughterhouse complex rose up. Such closeness and efficiency were obviously well reckoned by the city’s founding fathers. The trend in Europe now in urban design is towards making walkable environment in old cities and creating walkable cities for new ones. That is for efficiency and environment-friendly purposes: for people to live not far to the establishments they need so they could just walk, ride a bike and save and do away with their automobiles that not only consume a high-priced gasoline and crude but also contribute to global warming.

BLOGBUZZ: Montevista Mayor Teofista “Pistay” Jauod is reportedly ill of a debilitating disease. We’ll pray for the mayor’s health and recovery…. We don’t know why Dawn Zulueta, better half of DavNor 2^nd District Cong. Anton Lagdameo refused to walk down the red carpet during the Monday’s SONA. We missed our handsome Cong. Anton with her beauteous Dawn on TV…. Maybe Dawn is media-shy when it comes to mingling with top politicians…. Rumors flew thick over the weekend that the much-ballyhooed political unity in Comval has been broken up with the reported support of provincial elder Pros Amatong to a long-time friend and political ally Dr. Antonio Sebumpan of Maco and the reported support of Gob. Chiongkee Uy to Raoul Sarenas, a kin of Pantukan Mayor Celso “Tok” Sarenas for the election of the Daneco board member’s slot in coastal Comval. We’re still verifying this yet after the doctor won…. Mayor Sarenas had reportedly an earlier falling out with Amatong, who wanted the SK Fed boardmember to come from Mabini for having no boardmember at Comval SP at present. In the end, Sarenas son become the SK Fed prexy. There’s already wrangling in their unified ranks…. Maybe the potshot of the provincial elder Amatong during the last turnover of Lakas provincial chairmanship is a first smoke of a fire within. It was Amatong’s exhortation to protect the political unity that would be threatened by intrigues coming from among themselves…. It’s good that someone has realized that intrigues come from among politicians and not from the media, which just report what the politicians have done, what they are doing and what they will be doing. We do not create the news, it’s you who make the news which we cover in tail.… In Sebumpan’s case, the old man is still much calling the shots and proving he’s no lameduck unlike Joecab who is also now outside the government….. But the provincial elderly has to relinquish his provincial chairmanship of Lakas to Gob. Chiongkee or possibly have his unprecedented undefeated electoral record for almost 4 decades tarnished by the smallest party elections. (For online edition, visit my blog at: https://cha4t.wordpress.com)