Jerry-Joe reconciliation inevitable?

By Herbert Vego

 

IT has not yet spread like wildfire, but political kibitzers in Iloilo City have been whispering about the likelihood of Mayor Jerry Treñas and his predecessor, Jose “Joe III” Espinosa, reconciling in election 2022.

If they had not fought tooth and nail against each other for the city mayorship in 2019, that rumor would not have been surprising; they are related by affinity, their wives being sisters. Magbilas in local parlance. Their battle, to quote the winner, had been “the toughest in my political career.”

Since this writer is not privy to what had seemed like a disproof of the blood-is-thicker-than-water adage, let’s leave it to them to iron out their personal differences. Otherwise, they might prepare for another expensive bout.

As a veteran newsman, I could not hold myself from asking Joe about the “reconciliation” when the opportunity presented itself in a chance meeting. He smiled without confirming or denying.

“I will announce something on my birthday,” he quipped.

From that, your guess could be as good as mine. But since we could be wrong, let us hear it from the horse’s mouth whenever that birthday falls.

Down memory lane until their rivalry for City Hall in 2019, Jerry and Joe had run and won for different positions together.

In fact, their common supporters expected them to remain united in the months preceding the May 2019 election, with then outgoing Congressman Jerry running for mayor, and then Mayor Joe running for congressman.

But Joe opted to run also for mayor because “Jerry had promised to quit and let me be.”

This forced Jerry to ask former councilor Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda to have her as running mate for congresswoman. That she won was a “sweet reversal” of her loss to Espinosa when they first ran against each other for vice-mayor in 2010.

At this juncture, a reconciliation among the three of them – Treñas, Espinosa and Baronda – could be mutually beneficial if and when her bill dividing Iloilo City into two districts passes into law. With Jerry running for re-election, the two could run for a House seat without clashing.

So far, nobody on the horizon appears strong enough to best any of them.

Sadya dya for the three of them kung walang kalabang may laban. Ewan ko lang for their “handlers”.

 

FORMER PPA MANAGER LAUDS MORE POWER

WINFRED ELIZALDE, my friend and former manager of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in Iloilo City, now lives in Laguna but always takes time to read this column.

Regarding our column item the other day on 731 Lapu-Lapu fingerlings donated by MORE Electric and Power Corp. to City Hall and which were emptied into Iloilo River, Winfred reacted:

“The release of fingerlings into the Iloilo River is a welcome development that would bring back marine life to the formerly moribund Iloilo River.

“I remember that the Iloilo River Development Council undertook a massive and sustained clean-up drive on that river, as in removing carcasses of old ships lining its banks and dredging out silts that had accumulated through the ages. Illegally reclaimed lands along the banks were returned to the public domain.

“The juvenile fishes will in time help bring hook-line-and-sinker fishermen to push their luck by the riverside. Thank you, MORE Power!”

Talking of MORE Power, it is not true that it does not hold itself responsible whenever brownouts hit Iloilo City. In fact, its management always announces schedule of brownouts that could not be avoided during repair and rehab activities. But there are times when other causes come into the picture.

Come Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 20-21), for instance, it’s the turn of Panay Power Corporation (PPC) to do preventive maintenance and protection-relay tests between 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m.

Thus, during that time on Sunday, it would not generate electricity for power lines passing through certain MORE substations.

MORE, like all the electric cooperatives elsewhere in the region, buys electricity from generating utilities like PPC, Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) and Aboitiz Renewables, among others.

Therefore, these generators get the bigger share of the amount we pay to the distribution utility.