A daughter can’t say no to an ailing father

By Alex P. Vidal

“One of the greatest gifts I’ve ever gotten is my daughter.”— Ace Frehley

EVEN if she didn’t want to be a candidate for Iloilo City mayor, Raisa Treñas-Chu couldn’t say no to her father, Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas.

Even if she didn’t need the highest elective position in Iloilo City, Mrs. Treñas-Chu couldn’t reject the wishes of an ailing dad.

What kind of daughter is Mrs. Treñas-Chu if she goes against the decision of a sick father who wants his daughter to inherit the Office of the City Mayor, perhaps, as his paramount desire and legacy before permanently “disappearing” from the Ilonggos’ political consciousness?

Before his health allegedly deteriorated this year, the 67-year-old city mayor, enjoying the canine loyalty of the entire local legislative body, was still itching to run for reelection in 2025, rooting for Mrs. Treñas-Chu to run for congress lock, stock, and barrel.

This was the crux of Treñas’ uneventful rift with Iloilo City lone district Rep. Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda, who nearly gave Treñas a heart attack by refusing to relinquish her post to pave the way for Mrs. Treñas-Chu without firing a single shot.

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Only when he was hospitalized anew and couldn’t file his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for reelection that Treñas must’ve realized his daughter’s quest for congress was doomed after being uncharacteristically orphaned by his sudden exit.

Without his direct tutelage, a congressional aspirant Mrs. Treñas-Chu would be susceptible for bloody ambush. The handwritings were fully and digitally written on the walls of Jericho: Raisa lagged behind by a mile in many reputable surveys.

To avert a catastrophe, the embattled daughter had to divert her flight—with full illustration and direction from the terrified dad.

As a result of being thrusted into an unfamiliar territory where bareknuckle street fighting is the name of the game, Mrs. Treñas-Chu was forced to absorb roundhouse kicks and lethal uppercuts from her dad’s political adversaries and the critical press.

In the first place, nobody knows from the very beginning if Mrs. Treñas-Chu was really interested in politics. Was the optional or “final” decision to run for city mayor what she really wanted?

What if deep inside in her heart and mind, all that Mrs. Treñas-Chu really wanted was to be out of politics, be left alone and escape from the constant barrage of negative verbiages that have disturbed her once peaceful life?

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Everything we have learned, so far, was that daddy wanted to recruit the daughter—by hook or by crook—in the formative dynastic skeletal system that would dominate and tighten up the family grip in Iloilo City politics for the years to come.

What the Ilonggos have been blithely seeing is a totally obedient daughter performing a sugar-coated political act in public at the behest of an emphatic father.

We may not have realized that politics has created some serious conflicts and ill will in many families with predilection to dynasty. Women who detest politics could be more likely than men to feel this way, which can work against family harmony.

Many dads and daughters are likely to be caught up in family storms on these rough political seas during election season.

Without Mrs. Treñas-Chu’s categorical or independently prepared pronouncement where she is able to speak out her own mind to express what she really wants for her own life and career, we can’t rule out the Treñas family as exempted from this brewing storm.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo City.—Ed)