Noynoy for president

THOUGHTS UNLIMITED
Eugene Balitang

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- After the hype and the not-so-subtle ploy for dramatics in what he referred to as his period of discernment, we now have a presidential candidate in the person of Kris Aquino’s only brother dear Noynoy. Earlier, we had the personification of self-sacrifice for the sake of unity in the person of Mr. Palengke Mar Roxas.

I was overtaken by events just when I was about to teach my kids to shout “Oras Na! Mar Roxas Na!” – a slogan I learned when I attended a seminar in Quezon City where the speaker was Joe Hansen, US President Obama’s campaign strategist during the 2008 US presidential campaign. I even brought home from the said seminar a key chain with Mar’s moniker Mr. Palengke emblazoned on it, along with a wall clock with Mar’s trademark photograph in his blue polo shirt and eyeglasses.

Alas, the clock stopped ticking three days after I nailed it on the wall in our living room, perhaps a premonition that Mar’s presidential cart will conk out miles before he even files his candidacy. Alas, if the surveys are to be taken at face value, I guess Mar has taken the better course of action, grabbing the first opportunity of what we call a “graceful exit.”

I used to be a member of the Liberal Party (LP) until the infamous “split” in its leadership between those pro-GMA and those anti-GMA, or what we refer to more popularly as the LP-Atienza and LP-Drilon factions. The Supreme Court has long settled the matter in favor of the Drilon faction. This split happened before the 2007 elections, prompting me then to seek a party to carry me in my pitiful gubernatorial bid in our province of moma-chewing mountaineers. I ended up taking my oath before Senator Edgardo Javier Angara (SEJA) at the Loakan Airport and presto, I was Laban ng Demokratikong Pilpino’s (LDP) gubernatorial standard-bearer. That was in 2007.

The first time I joined LP was in 2001 when my office boss and law practice mentor, Atty. Solomon R. Chungalao, was running for congressman in our province. We literally grabbed the first party that came our way after failing to join Lakas-CMD, then the dominant party in Ifugao at that time. We held on to LP and Atty. Chungalao won his first term.

When 2004 came, I succumbed to the wiles of politics as it softly beckoned, so I joined Atty. Chungalao’s LP slate, naturally. I won a seat as Board Member in the second local legislative district of Ifugao. And Atty. Chungalao won his second term as solon for our lone congressional district.

Then came 2007 and the aforementioned split happened. I lost in my gubernatorial bid under the banner of SEJA’s LDP. Atty. Chungalao won his third term as congressman. I stayed in Ifugao and went back to the only job I know, that of practicing law, or what I euphemistically call as peddling lies and poetry.

And now 2010 is just around the bend. We still have LP standing tall as ever, with Noynoy Aquino as its presidential bet. And the questions that I have to ponder as the days tick would include: Will I re-join LP? Or, will LP take me back? Will there be a coalition where LDP and LP will join hands? Is Noynoy really the distilled product of two prominent and worthy national figures? Above all, do I believe in Noynoy as President of this poor republic of smiling carabaos (to borrow classmate Gabby Keith’s phrase in another paper)? Ah, I shall ponder these matters as the days go by. (ebalitang@yahoo.com.ph)