Defensor, et al should stay away from speakership row

By Alex P. Vidal

“When actors are vying for the same kinds of roles, there’s bound to be a little rivalry. Deep friendships cannot be forged when you are competing with each other.” — Juhi Chawla

IF asked to take sides, Ilonggo congresswomen and congressmen should shun partisanship in the House of Representatives and reject both the feuding Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, whose bickering in the last three weeks now has delayed the passage of the 2021 national budget and sullied the reputation of the Philippine legislature.

While people around the world battle the COVID-19 pandemic, a bizarre news from the Philippines wormed its way into major news websites in the United States and other parts of the globe about two good-looking kids fighting over a piece of biscuit while an exasperated dad couldn’t decide between the spoiled brats.

As of the moment, only AAMBIS-OWA Partylist Rep. Sharon Garin of Guimbal, Iloilo has been sideswiped in the Cayetano-Velasco tiff, losing her chairmanship in the committee on economic affairs for hugging the youthful would-be speaker, the hottest political heartthrob to emerge from the Southwestern Tagalog Region.

Because he is desperate to cling to power in whatever means and no matter who gets bamboozled, Cayetano, abetted by his “weather friends” in congress, will not hesitate to apply a Machiavellian “disciplinary action” to chop off the heads of disloyal sycophants and those who will stand in his way to keep the speakership.

 

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No one in congress should fear eccentric Cayetano or whoever political demigods and kingmakers that will tolerate his “reign of terror.”

No one should bow before Louis XIV-in-the-making Velasco.

Most of the solons from Western Visayas are in the age bracket of both Cayetano and Velasco; and they, too, can be in the best position to become speaker in the future, especially the brilliant Iloilo third district Rep. Lorenz R. Defensor (PDP-Laban), Antique Rep. Loren Legarda (PDP-Laban), and Negros Occidental third district Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez.

If they get their hands off the current speakership rumble, they will not end up beholden to whoever will emerge as winner in the game of musical chairs on October 14; they are also free to form their own silent coalition sans the influence and intervention of any political godfather.

If Velasco will be crowned as the next speaker (which he will most likely get based on the recent body language of Malacañang), erstwhile independent solons identified with either Cayetano and Velasco will be at the beck and call of the new speaker when the new emperor divides the spoils of war.

In every battle when the smoke is cleared, there’s always a retribution and “loyalty rewards”.

“Veni, vidi, vici.” (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

If they remain independent and show displeasure to the fact that the speakership was being disputed in a repugnant manner (term-sharing was basically a “Solomonic decision” made in the presence of President Duterte before Cayetano clinched the speakership), they will earn the respect of the contending parties and the admiration of their constituents.

 

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I AM saddened that one of my three most favorite hotels in New York City has succumbed to the struggling economy.

I’m referring to the fantabulous Roosevelt Hotel at 45 East 45th Street which is reportedly shuttering after nearly a century in operation.

Owned by Pakistan International Airlines and managed by United Hotels Company, the 1,015-key hotel is located near the heart of the midtown Manhattan, a walking distance from the Philippine Consulate on Fifth Avenue.

My other favorite hotels (which are not closing) are Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel in times Square and Hotel Pennsylvania in front of the Madison Square Garden also in the midtown.

I always recommended these hotels to visiting friends from other states.

“Due to the current economic impacts, after almost 100 years of welcoming guests to The Grand Dame of New York, The Roosevelt Hotel, is regretfully closing its doors permanently,” the hotel said in a statement on its website, according to the report. Its final day of operation will be Oct. 31.

The 18-story building, which was constructed in 1924, also has 22,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to a loan prospectus from 2014.

It most recently underwent an $8.2 million renovation in 2011.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)