The Liberal Party (LP) has been mouthing a reformist slogan but it appears that party loyalty is only secondary to them to achieving victory in the 2013 midterm election. Perhaps, the administration party does not believe that reform is possible if it will field doubtful winners, especially in the local level.

Iloilo, the province of Sen. Franklin Drilon, is one such example. In September, former Gov. Neil Tupas Sr. was nominated by the LP as its official candidate for governor. Tupas is a long-time LP member and nobody among the LPs in the province contested his nomination. Lo and behold! A few days after Tupas’s nomination, Gov. Arthur Defensor took his oath as LP along with his son and namesake, the congressman in the third district of Iloilo. From 1992 up to his joining the LP, Defensor had been with Lakas.

The elder Defensor, the newly minted Liberal was eventually named the official candidate for governor of the LP-led coalition. And what about Tupas who has been a Liberal for a long time? Well, he has to content himself with running for congressman in the fourth district of Iloilo. As a form of consuelo de bobo, his son Raul will be the running mate of Defensor. Of course, his other son, the shrill-voiced Neil Tupas Jr. who became known as lead House prosecutor in the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, is seeking reelection in the fifth district as official candidate of the LP.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, the upcoming campaign manager of the LP-led coalition, said they have avoided the division of the camps of Defensor and Tupas. There were predictions that such a division would favor the gubernatorial bid of Rep. Frejenil Biron of the United Nationalist Alliance who is now on his third and last term as congressman of the fourth district. Or, did deal really avert the feared division of forces?

I learned that several members of the Tupas family were chafing at the deal that made their family head a candidate for congressman instead of for governor. They railed against the LP’s lack of appreciation for the loyalty of Tupas Sr. What’s more, they were afraid that he would lose since the fourth district is not their bailiwick.

There’s good reason for such a fear. In 2010, Tupas ran for congressman in the fourth district against Biron, and he was soundly beaten. Tupas filed a protest but he lost that as well. Oh yes, Biron is no longer running for representative—he’s running for governor, remember?—but he’s fielding his brother Hernan Jr. against Tupas. What’s more, Biron’s continuing services, especially of the medical kind, have strengthened his grip in the district. Tupas may be rich but he can’t match the free-spending ways of the Birons.

Tupas isn’t the only long-time LP leader junked by the party in favor of a relatively new party member. Former Sen. Victor Ziga and former Sonny Osmena are in the same boat.

Those who know their political history count the Zigas as dyed-in-the-wool Liberals. Vic’s father was a former congressman of Albay while his mother was a former senator. When the LP was racked by division, Vic sided with the group of Sen. Jovito Salonga and Mrs. Judy Araneta-Roxas, the mother of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, the LP president on-leave.

With such a history of party loyalty, one would expect Vic Ziga to get some favors in having his son Ricky named as official LP candidate for congressman in the first district of Albay. This was not to be because the LP chose instead Quezon City Councilor Edcel Lagman Jr. as its official bet in the district. Quezon City? Yes, you read it right! The LP chose a councilor from Quezon City over a Ziga. What’s more, Lagman was not even a member of the administration party until after he was assured of getting its endorsement. It didn’t matter to the LP leadership that Lagman’s father and namesake was with the minority leader in the House. But what the heck, the Lagmans have held sway in the first district of Albay since 1987 and this could have been the main consideration of the LP leaders in picking a non-resident and new party member as official candidate.

I know former Sen. Sonny Osmena as one of the staunchest supporters of Drilon at the Senate. He first became senator in 1971 as an LP. Understandably, he was hoping to get the official LP nomination as party candidate for mayor of Toledo City. For unknown reasons, he didn’t get the hoped-for nomination.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.