Would Defensor and Treñas endorse Robredo without Drilon?

By Alex P. Vidal

“We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate.”

—Kin Hubbard

UNLIKE Iloilo governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas, most local government unit (LGU) chief executives in the country still haven’t revealed their choices for president and vice president in the May 9, 2022 Philippine election.

Out of respect or fear for President Rodrigo Duterte, many of these LGU chief executives must be thinking “it’s still premature” to declare their preferences until after the final substitution of candidates on November 15.

Despite her repeated denials, there are still speculations that Duterte’s daughter, Sara Carpio, mayor of Davao City, will run for vice president under standard-bearer, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in the eleventh hour.

This is what gives some LGU chief executives the jitters.

If some of them will be in a hurry to endorse presidential candidates other than (or without waiting for the possible) Marcos-Carpio tandem, they might “earn Malacanang’s ire” and lose the pelfs and privileges during the campaign period.

Like in the previous elections in the Philippines, incumbent governors and mayors who supported the administration candidates always received favors or special treatment for their “cooperation and loyalty.”

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Because of their relationship with opposition senator Franklin “Frank” Drilon, among other obvious reasons, Malacanang wouldn’t be surprised that Treñas and Defensor endorsed Vice President Leni Robredo.

Other than their personal friendship with Robredo (both Defensor and Treñas were the vice president’s former colleagues in the House of Representatives), Western Visayas has been known traditionally to be the bailiwick—but not the exclusive turf—of the opposition.

There were other possible principal factors why Defensor and Treñas couldn’t support Marcos aside from Drilon: Defensor’s father, former Governor Arthur “Art” Sr., was a key opposition stalwart as assemblyman in the Batasang Pambansa when Bongbong’s late father, Ferdinand Sr., was president.

Treñas’ late father, Efrain, was one of the country’s most respected and highly touted constitutional commissioners, who detested the strongman’s Martial Law rule in the ’70s.

Drilon’s involvement can be accidental in the scenario.

Even without the flamboyant senator from Molo district in Iloilo City, Treñas and Defensor would most certainly still be endorsing Robredo.

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AS we all feared since two months ago, Andrew Cuomo, former New York governor, has been charged with a misdemeanor sex crime for allegedly groping a woman at the state’s Executive Mansion last year.

It was reported that Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state court system, has confirmed a misdemeanor complaint had been filed against Cuomo in a “sex crime” case in Albany City Court.

The complaint from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office reportedly alleged that Cuomo committed the misdemeanor act of forcible touching at his official residence on the afternoon of Dec. 7 last year, between 3:51 p.m. and 4:07 p.m.

“At the aforesaid date time and location the defendant Andrew M. Cuomo did intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly place his hand under the blouse shirt of the victim [redacted] and into her intimate body part. Specifically, the victim’s (sic) left breast for the purposes of degrading and gratifying his sexual desires, all contrary to the provisions of the statute in such case made and provided,” read the complaint.

The complaint reportedly cited evidence including cell phone records, state Capitol swipes, state police records and text messages from Cuomo’s cell phone, while also pointing to some findings listed in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ report, released Aug. 3 o a week before Cuomo announced he would be resigning.

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