Treñas goes ‘pink’

By Herbert Vego

IS Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas in the pink of political health?

The Ilonggo supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo, presidential candidate in election 2022, were tickled pink on hearing the news that Treñas had announced his support for her.

Pink, incidentally, is the color that Robredo has identified herself with. It is the universal symbol of femininity. It also represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability – traits that VP Leni is famous for.

Treñas has posted on Twitter, “I have known Vice President Leni for a long time. She has always been supportive of our projects here in Iloilo City.”

Yesterday’s news report in this paper, however, “clarified that he would wait for the National Unity Party’s (NUP) official endorsement for the 2022 presidential elections, despite social media posts attributed to him praising Vice President Leni Robredo.”

If I may say my two cents’ worth, let it be the other way around. After all, he had supported Leni for vice-president in 2016.  Both were then with the Liberal Party.

And so the mayor should start the ball rolling for the NUP to turn pink.  The massive groundswell of public support for VP Leni is the best indicator of where the political wind is blowing.

This writer predicts more of Treñas’ kind – the pragmatic politicians — to ride the Leni train.

While it is true that the NUP is an affiliate of the administration party, PDP-Laban, the latter is divided between two “wings” – one identified with President Rodrigo Duterte, another with presidential candidate Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who claims to represent the opposition.

Pacquiao, however, is just an “incidental” enemy of the Duterte government, having decided to hit the latter’s “graft and corruption” only when it became clear he would not get Duterte’s endorsement.

As to why the NUP stalwarts await Malacañang’s final say, it’s because they know that the emergence of Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go running in tandem for president and vice-president is a ruse. By no stretch of their own imagination would these two want to run for another position when their six-year term as senators would not end until June 2025.

Worse, there is nothing concrete in the political horizon to prove that presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio — who has already filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for re-election as Davao City mayor – would substitute Bato.

Leni’s popularity in now unquestionable. Volunteer organizations have already mushroomed nationwide, vowing to paint the country pink. “Pink” caravans in Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Cebu City, Laguna, Rizal and all six provinces of the Bicol region have been rolling out since she filed her COC last October 7.

Why is that so when advance surveys made on the presidential wannabes by the SWS, Pulse Asia and Octa Research had always placed Sara ahead? The latest Pulse Asia survey in September 2021 gave her 20%, followed by Bongbong Marcos with 15%, Isko Moreno with 13% and Manny Pacquiao with 12%. There was no mention of Robredo, who had been mentioned in past surveys at the tail end with only five to six percent.

Were the make-believe surveys – done before the filing of COCs – aimed at discouraging VP Leni from running for president?

She is not so naïve. As usual, the non-mention of the actual number of survey participants comprising the percentages is aimed at painting an illusion of “nationwide trend”.

The unidentified participants in the political surveys, assuming they are warm bodies, number only 1,200.  If there were indeed 1,200 respondents, its 28% equals only 240 votes for Sara. Is that convincing in a country with 63 million registered voters?

No doubt a different set of 1,200 random respondents could produce a result favorable to another candidate.

It’s easy to see why the Dutertes could not melt the ambition of an ally, Bongbong Marcos, to run for president. If they both run, it would benefit Leni, who is now touted as the only true opposition candidates

In a TV interview, Bongbong made it clear he would not slide down to “vice”.

“It was President Duterte who promised to be my running mate,” he stressed.

That seemed in keeping as well with Sara’s statement nixing a Duterte-Duterte tandem. Shameful, eh?

Duterte had indeed expressed his intention to run for vice-president but made no mention of Bongbong as his standard-bearer. Is he now having second thoughts about the chances of Bongbong, who had lost the vice-presidential race to VP Leni in 2019?

It is inconceivable at this point to suppress the ambition of the son whose obsession is to rewrite history textbooks portraying his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, as a “dictator” and “the biggest thief”.

Wow, are we seeing a suspenseful real-life drama unfolding into an unpredictable climax?

—o—

20,000 MORE CUSTOMERS CONNECTED

WHILE guesting on our “Tribuna sang Banwa” program on Aksyon Radyo last Sunday, MORE Power’s Ma. Cecilia “Maricel” Pe, the distribution utility’s customer care head, answered our question on whether the company is capable of expanding to areas outside of Iloilo City.

It is already public knowledge that congressmen Mike Defensor (2^nd Dist., Iloilo), BJ Biron (4^th Dist) and Julienne Baronda (Iloilo City-Lone) have filed House Bill No. 10258 seeking to extend MORE Power’s coverage to certain towns of the 2nd and 4^th districts, which are covered by the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO).

“Yes, we can expand farther,” Pe said in response to our question, “We already have a program in place.”

That is believable because, since MORE Power took over Panay Electric Co. (PECO) in February 2020, it has expanded from 63,000 to 83,000-plus paying customers. Phenomenal! This shows that most of the illegal connectors using “jumpers” have already turned legal to avoid being charged in court and to enjoy peace of mind.

This writer reiterates, however, the clarification made by MORE Power President Roel Castro that the clamor to “change power” was the initiative of municipal residents attracted to lower rates. It is not his intention to pirate ILECO’s customers.

Miss Pe also answered questions on the resumption of disconnection of delinquent customers.  However, let us reserve her answers for our next column on Friday.

Meanwhile, beer call muna tayo.