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THE end of 2006 did not bring joy to many of our local politicians
who may still be looking forward to having their terms of office
extended by Charter change. Many voters in Cebu perceive that many
elective officials want to have the Cha-cha instead of the midterm
polls because they want their terms extended. Even the grand old man
of the Garcia clan, the governor’s father, Pablo Garcia, said
almost as much when he berated Malacañang’s and the House
majority’s effort to railroad the Cha-cha.
“It’s like baking their cake and eating it,
too,” commented a political-science professor friend. “That is
why they are pushing for the people’s initiative thing—the
cake—with the hope that they would not be spending anything at
all, and yet they still continue to enjoy their position with the
power and influence that go with it. That’s astuteness for you.”
But the point really is, it is rather late to be still pushing for
the people’s initiative.
With the constituent assembly effectively set
aside, and the House of Representatives’ majority members appear
to have accepted the reality of the prevailing political situation.
Many have reassessed the temper of the voters in their respective
districts and are mending fences.
Some made hasty apologies and mea culpa for
having been mislead into doing something the people did not agree
with. And so, the final barrier to the holding of the midterm
election should have been scuttled then. But then, when the
Church’s prayer rally was held, and the expected half a million
supporters did not materialize, the bravado of the pro-Cha-cha
congressmen, as well as the President’s, was somehow reenergized.
It can now be said that the age-old saying to
let the sleeping lion lie in peace and quiet, did not receive the
expected stunning affirmation from the people. Members of the
politically experienced House members who thought they could push
through a change in the nation’s fundamental law at their sole
behest may have realized they lost hope too soon. But then, time
appears to be against them since it is rather too late to start
again.
With the Ulap and the House appearing to have
lost steam and time, the local political pots have started to boil.
In some parts of the province, new and old political feuds have
begun to heat up once more. In my home district, Cebu’s third, the
Osmeñas, the Garcias and the Yaphas, who have had time to control
the people’s political life, are starting to make moves that could
affect their lives over the next three years from next May 14.
Most recently, in Mandaue City, Mayor Ted Ouano,
its political supremo, appeared to have roused to the quick a
potentially political behemoth that has lain uninvolved these past
many years. This is the Norberto Quisumbing (Norkis) business clan
that sits on a business empire that has never been consciously used
yet for politics. Last week the Quisumbings were reported to have
filed a complaint with the region’s Ombudsman against Ouano.
Not yet privy to any detail of the case, I can
only say that if the Quisumbing patriarch, would wake up to the
political potential of his power and influence as a well-respected
businessman in Cebu and the nation as a whole, whoever he supports
in next year’s election definitely could put up a good political
challenge to the Ouanos right in their own turf. If the Quisumbings
succeed, Mayor Ouano has only himself to blame.
For the moment, let us watch local politicians
move to protect their respective turfs.
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