In myprevious article that | shared with the Opinion Section ofthe Sunstar,
I mentioned about a lot ofsurprises, changes and gimmicks in our country.
I can prove this without an iota ofdoubt. | will cite here the case offormer
President Rodrigo Duterte. When his six years ofadministration ended, he
said on tv that he would take a respite and would not involve himself in
active politics. But, after much soul-searching and prodding of his cohorts
and supporters, suddenly he changed his mind. There were a lot of
speculations emerging from his camp. Some of his closed advisers who
have access to the Ex. President were pushing him to run for senator.
However, this did not materialize. Instead, he opted to run for Davao City
Mayor in place of his son Sebastian the incumbent of the said city. His
daughter Vice President Sara Duterte resigned from the PBBM Cabinet thus
triggering a political cold war between the PBBM Administration and the
Dutertes. This all started when the news came out that the International
Criminal Court (ICC) investigators are already in the country to investigate
the dreadful campaign offormer President Administration where hundreds
of suspected pushers and drug addicts were killed. And another thing,
during the budget hearing of the Vice President’s Office and as Secretary
of Education Budget (DEPED) in congress, issues regarding use illegaf of
intelligence funds of her office were unearthed. Her explanation on the
emerging issue was not well taken bysome members ofCongress.
On the other hand, | will touch here the political scenario in the province
of Pampanga. Few weeks ago there were unconfirmed reports that Vice
Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda transferred residence from her home town
in Lubao to City of San Fernando to make legal her running for City Mayor
of San Fernando against Mayor Vilma Caluag. This did not happen. Her
daughter Mylin the Mayor ofthe Municipality of Lubao suddenly surfaced
to run for City Mayor ofSan Fernando in place ofthe Vice Governor. Finally,
during the last day of COC filing the Vice Governor filed her Certificate of
Candidacy no longer candidate for City Mayor of San Fernando but
Pampanga Governor in place ofher son Governor Dennis. In the basketball
game parlance this is what they call “Change of Court”.
In the town of Magalang, this is the present political scenario. As usual, it
is Mayor Malu P. Lacson, Councilor Norman L. Lacson tandem. This seems
to be a formidable team. After all these informations that had circulated
in Magalang that former Mayor Romy Pecson would not participate in the
2025 local elections. Suprisingly, he changed his mind and together on the
last day of filing of candidacy (COC) Mr. Pecson and his son Eller tandem
and eight candidates for Municipal Councilors filed their COC individually
without a political party. A few days later Mr. Pecson’s entourage paid a
courtesy call to the Vice Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda. It goes without
saying, that their visit carries and intriguing meaning possibly to ask for the
blessing of the Vice Governor. From my own point of view, the Pinedas
cannot afford to let go Mayor Malu and throw their support to other
Mayoralty Candidate. This is farfetched. | arrived to this conclusion
because Mayor Malu who is a Nurse by profession, at the time when she
lost to former Mayor Pecson in the Election 2016-2019 by a slim margin of
27 votes she was hired as Consultant byGovernor Dennis Pineda on Health
Care Development during the period of pandemic crisis. Although she was
not the sitting Mayor during those trying days was able to produce enough
vaccines for her constituents thus, deterred the spread of Covid-19 in the
town of Magalang.
