Meeting Grace Poe: Up close and personal

So three presidentiables were here in Cebu yesterday. First to come was Vice President Jejomar Binay whose report bagged the front page news of The Freeman yesterday which screamed "National gov't neglected Cebu." This is a truism that we Cebuanos have to live with it in the past five years under the Aquino regime. Binay was correct because I know from his advisors here in Cebu that he reads my columns on how Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III denied Cebu any infrastructure development.

This situation reminds me of what former Senator Sonny Osmeña once said when Joseph "Erap" Estrada became President- "Pagpuasa mo!" While it is true that Sonny O once made this statement, however in fairness to Sonny O, Cebu was never denied any infrastructure development even if he was estranged with his cousin, then Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña. However despite the fact that Mayor Osmeña exhorted Cebuanos to vote for Pres. Noynoy Aquino during the 2010 presidential elections, these so-called friends of Pres. PNoy Aquino, including our current Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III never used their "influence" in Malacañang to push for any infrastructure for Cebu. Shame on them!

So you may as well call that event yesterday which they dubbed "gathering of friends in Cebu" as the "gathering of Cebuano traitors!" I will never be caught dead having a selfie with Pres. PNoy because he has done nothing for Cebu. Worse for Sec. Mar Roxas, the last time his "boss" Pres. PNoy was in Cebu was during the groundbreaking for Terminal 2 of the Mactan Cebu International Airport under the management of GMR-Megawide and he told the media that the P14.4 billion that the consortium paid for the 25-year lease of MCIA was placed in the National Treasury so that the monies can be used for other vital projects.

For many of us Cebuanos, this was the height of imperial Manila's insult to us where we can no longer earn money for our airport and the supposedly advanced rental which we could be using for the second runway, we cannot even touch. And these people have the gall to come here and face Cebuanos? Well, as we've said, these Cebuanos who worship the Aquino and wear their yellow pin are the ones who benefited from the Aquino regime. But for me they have turned their backs on Cebu.

Meanwhile I gathered from friends that the ratings for Sec. Mar Roxas hasn't (although my sources in Manila told me that SWS and Pulse Asia are now pump priming his image) improved, which is why people that he has asked to be his runningmate has been avoiding him like a plague. In my book, the position of vice president is a juicy one, after all you are but a heartbeat away from the presidency. But until now, no one has accepted the offer of Mar Roxas to be his vice presidential candidate.

In case you already forgot in the politics of the past whenever a position for the president is filled up, the political parties then would always look for someone from the Visayas and Mindanao to be the vice presidential bet.     This is why we had then vice president Carlos P. Garcia who later became president when president Ramon Magsaysay crashed in Mt. Mannuggal and then vice president Emmanuel Pelaez during the Macapagal administration. Alas this tradition has been thrown away. This is one of the major reasons why we need political reforms in our system of governance.

Meanwhile yesterday, we had the opportunity to finally meet with Sen. Grace Poe who came to our studio in MyTV for her interview with Mike Acebedo Lopez on his talkshow "Open Mike." It is Open Mike's maiden show and what a great start for his talkshow! It was also the first time I met Poe up close and personal and we had a good talk over lunch at the home of Dame Mariquita Yeung in Nivel Hills.

Sen. Poe did not know that we had a relations with her father the late actor Fernando Poe, Jr. whom my father, the late Atty. Jesus "Lindong" Avila allowed his movie "Ang Panday" to be shown in an English House. Yes in those days in the 1970's Tagalog movies were shown on Tagalog Houses, while American films were shown in English Houses. The movies of comedian Dolphy and FPJ where the first Tagalog films to penetrate the once English only movie houses. She was almost teary-eyed when I told her that we had many lunches with FPJ and my father.

Yes, I'm sure that the curious in you may be asking if she has decided to run for the presidency. From the way I size her up, she will be making this announcement before the deadline for the filing of the certificates of candidacy. In fact we talked about her residency and I told her that it was good that someone filed that case before the Supreme Court so we'd know once and for all, whether she could ran for president or not. My view of Sen. Poe is, she has no airs. She is very pleasant and listens intently, especially about the needs of Cebu. Let's hope she'll hurdle her residency issues.

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