PNoy: Getting bombshells from Sen. Santiago

Here's a comment from my good friend, Joseph "Boboy" Quijano living in Texas who wrote in my Facebook on my column on Philippine Politics that it is a circus and he wrote, "Philippine election, the only time that the money of the Philippines /country trickle down, a little, very little to lower "Juan Dela Cruz" no wonder, the regular "Juan Dela Cruz" is happy in this "CIRCUS" entertaining too..." I was taken aback by this statement that it is indeed very true that election is the only time that the Filipino voter gets money from politicians, who rarely spend their own personal money, but rather the money that they stole from the nation's coffers.

Meanwhile, today is the deadline of the filing of Certificates of Candidacies  at the Commission on Elections and if indeed, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago truly commits herself to seek the presidency of this land, she'd be the only presidential candidate whom we can truly consider the real opposition. The other presidential candidates are allies or former allies of PNoy and are somewhat beholden to him.

Take for instance Vice President Jejomar Binay. He has never openly attacked Pres. Aquino, despite all that the Aquino attack dogs have done to him. Now he is facing a criminal charge and for sure if you ask Mr. Binay if he would jail PNoy after his term is over, I doubt if he could give you a straight or definitive answer. I'm sure that if Sen. Grace Poe wins the presidency, she too would never allow PNoy the same disgrace and dishonor that he gave former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

But with Sen. Miriam Santiago entering the presidential race, she doesn't waste time in throwing bombshells against the Aquino presidency.        

Last Monday she said that it is difficult to find the Aquino administration's "Daang Matuwid" adding that even a "Global Positioning Service (GPS)" cannot locate it. Ouch! I dare say that no one amongst the current crop of presidentiables has even dared to say something similar against PNoy!

As Sen. Santiago said, "I was full of hope that at least he (Aquino) will lead us to the Daang Matuwid but where we are now, we are far from that. How can you GPS Daang Matuwid from here?" Santiago openly expressed her disappointment with Aquino and challenged the president to clear his name and resolve the pork controversy that has also linked the office of his Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad. So let's hear it from the Yellow barkers in Malacañang especially why Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales cleared the name of PNoy so prematurely. Now this is just the opening salvo from Maid Miriam Santiago. We expect bigger bombshells up ahead!

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Yesterday, the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan  supporters trooped to St. Therese Church and caused a minor traffic along Salinas Drive as they paraded going to the downtown district of Cebu City as former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and his councilors for the North and South of Cebu City filed their certificates of candidacies at the Commission on Elections. So the big question that's on the minds of many Cebuanos is, whether or not Tomas Osmeña can stage a dramatic comeback.

One of the dramatic things that happened for the BOPK is the shift of Cebu City Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos from Team Rama into the BOPK Ruling party. Now whether that move affected Team Rama, we can only find out after the May 2016 elections. But I had a good talk with Barangay Apas Captain Ramil Ayuman yesterday and he somehow briefed me with the politics of his neighboring Barangay Lahug.

I learned from him that Lahug Barangay Captain Jovito Taborada was once a supporter of Mary Ann delos Santos when they were against the BOPK under Tomas Osmeña. But when Councilor delos Santos shifted political alliances to the BOPK, apparently Barangay Captain Taborada remained with Team Rama. But we heard that he would still vote for Mary Ann delos Santos for councilor. But because of his situation, he plans to go on leave and return after the elections are over.

At this point, we are seeing Cebuano constituents from both political camps already making their decision as to whom they should support in the coming mayoral elections. In my book, what I would like to see from both Team Rama and the BO-PK are concrete plans on what we Cebuanos can expect from them on major issues like traffic, garbage collection, and the proper development of Cebu City as we move into a new presidential term that would carry us for the next 6 years.

I haven't chosen which group I would vote for but for sure I will vote for those who have solid platforms of governance that they can accomplish in just three years in office. My warning to BOPK is, if they still support Mar Roxas and his Liberal Party, don't expect us residents of Cebu City to support them because under the LP we had zero infrastructure for 5 years.

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