TIGHT ROPE WITH MODESTO P. SA-ONOY
Thursday, July 6, 2017

All elected officials, except those in the barangays have now completed one year in office. The President is expected to deliver his State of the Nation Address and as surely as tomorrow will come (unless Divine Providence intervenes) he will be telling the nation all the good things, the successes, that he had achieved.

Strong in this area will be his campaign against illegal drugs. If we measure this campaign in terms of the number of users, pushers and protectors exterminated, he has mainly succeeded. If we take it in terms of the guilty and innocents lives that paid for this “success” then he is a total failure.

If we speak of the time line that he promised during the elections, he flunked. He promised to erase this social disease in three to six months otherwise he would resign. The war is still going on without hope for an end and he is still enjoying his role as President.

Well, we usually delineate what was promised in the elections and what the politician do when in office. In this sense we as a nation fail because we accept promises that we know would be broken. No wonder politicians make fools of the voters.

Of course he has successes, but let us leave that to his legion of supporters and government-paid propagandists although their words always carry a hint of deception. But that is good in a sense that we learn to become more perceptive and depend and leave to Divine Justice what we know we have no power to demand correction. At least by believing in Divine Justice we have not joined the increasing number of people who think there is no hell. Indeed if there is no hell, then there is no Divine Justice.

On the local front, Governor Alfredo Marañon will surely speak of his many accomplishments. He has plenty to tell and he is constantly covered by media because he is, in media speak, “news source”.

Magallon Mayor Magdaleno Peña will also be busy filing charges against the governor while the mayor's ward, Ricky Serenio will be producing one additional affidavit after another. Why he cannot make up his mind makes his next episode a dull and exposes a fault line. These exchanges however make life in the province exciting and the media enjoying filing reports.

Congressmen will also be reporting what they had done. The most active are Bacolod Cong. Greg Gasataya and Third District Cong. Alfredo Benitez. Both are allies and they brought plenty of infrastructures for their district that in a way also helps the entire province. Gasataya has more projects for Bacolod in one year than ex-Congressman Monico Puentevella had in nine years.

Of course Puentevella remains in the news with his several graft and corruption cases in the Commission on Audit, the Ombudsman and the Sandigan. If these three agencies keep on moving so slowly and Puentevella keeps his lawyers busy with more motions, the ex-solon will be in the news for years.

Cong. Gasataya is proving an excellent representative of Bacolod and an exemplary cooperator of the city government, the reason the city is all gung ho in infrastructure and social services. Nitpickers are also busy but without substance.

Cong. Benetiz is graduating in 2019 but he has his eyes on the Senate. He is not in the national news as yet but with his resources he can get into the national consciousness with performance in his district to boast about. Its only two years to 2019 and a national electoral office is demanding of exposure.

If you are wondering about the other congressmen, I am also curious what they have to report as accomplishment. Surely they have, but we haven't heard of them although in the game of politics being heard is vital.

But lately Benitez is said to be eyeing the governor's seat with the endorsement of mayors. If that happens what of Vice Governor Eugenio Lacson? He has been doing quite well and cooperating with governor Marañon whose support is crucial. A Benitez-Lacson fight would be exciting and expensive.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia is decidedly the center of the news and has kept the public well-aware of his accomplishments. As he usually deliver his State of the City Address in July, let's wait for the bacon. He has plenty to report, not only about what we see but what others say. *