The Cebuanos can really not trust Isko Moreno

I salute Deputy Speaker and Cebu 3rd District Congressman Pablo John Garcia, a brilliant Bar topnotcher. Congressman PJ is correct in refusing to support Bongbong Marcos. That, to me, is the wisest decision he has made in relation to the May 2022 elections. But choosing Isko Moreno, a dubious character, over a solid woman of substance, Leni Robredo, and Isko rather than Manny Pacquiao, a native scion of a Pinamungajan, his constituency, may prove to be the deputy speaker's great undoing.

Isko Moreno has not done anything good for Cebu, or anything good for the country. He has done many good things for Isko Moreno himself. If you really scrutinize his biography, you will discover that this overly-ambitious politician from Tondo has been a political butterfly all his life, jumping from one party to another, all for political opportunism, with no clear ideology or principle. He capitalizes on his good looks and his rags-to-riches story which, his drumbeaters say, is one for the books. But we have heard that story many times before. This is the same storyline of Erap who claims to be coming from the "masa", allegedly from Tondo too, although they were really part of the elite in San Juan. Isko's story is "ay kumita na", "gasgas na". We should not buy that again. We were not born yesterday.

Look at his record, and the facts do not lie. He does not have a clear party affiliation. Every election he runs under a different party. That alone speaks for the kind of character this guy has. In 1998, under the tutelage of then vice mayor Danny Lacuna, Isko ran for councilor representing the 1st District of Tondo and won under Lacuna's party. He was reelected in 2001 and 2004, but whenever Lacuna shifted affiliation, Isko was not far behind. In 2010, he ran for vice mayor under the Nacionalista Party and won over Bonjay Isip Garcia of the PMP (Erap's party). In 2013, Isko jumped to UNA (Jojo Binay's party). In 2012, Isko jumped again to Erap's party and ran with Estrada as the latter's vice mayor. They both won, beating Isko's former boss, Mayor Alfredo Lim. He has no qualms fighting his former mentor. At the rate he was jumping, he should be in the Olympics track and field.

Then in 2016, Isko ran for senator under PMP and lost. In 2019, Isko, running under his own party, Asenso Manileno, dared to challenge his two mentors, Erap Estrada of PMP and Mayor Alfredo Lim of PDP-Laban. Isko won against two very old trapos. Now, in 2021, he is running for president, again under another party, Aksyon Demokratiko. His running mate Dr. Willie Ong, also left Lakas-CMD and joined Isko in his new party. We recall that in 2017, he accepted an appointment as chairman of the board of the North Luzon Railway Corp. by President Duterte, who belongs to PDP-Laban. In May 2018, he was named DSWD undersecretary. He had been jumping from one post to another.

What has this guy done all in all? He has been a rolling stone gathering no moss. Now, can you count and keep track of all the political parties he has been a member of? Since I have been an HR practitioner for so long, if this is the kind of job applicant I'm going to interview, the questions I shall propound are: Why had you been jumping from one ship to another? What are your core principles, if any? What significant contributions have you offered to all the organizations that you have been a part of? Have you heard of the word "loyalty"?

Isko was very harsh in his words against Leni and even took some figures of speech against Pacman. But he never criticized Bongbong Marcos. His handler is Lito Banayo and we all know what that means. Banayo was appointed by President Duterte as head of the Taiwan-based MECO or Manila Economic and Cultural Office. And so, if both Isko and Banayo are appointees of Duterte, what does that make of his candidacy? If Congressman PJ was discerning enough to see that BBM is unworthy of the peoples' trust, why can he not see the palpable flaws in the character of Isko? Honestly, my dear, I really don't know.