The recent statement of Bacolod Councilor Al Victor Espino shook me out of my depression stupor and fired me up to write again after over two months.
My brother’s untimely demise took all of us by surprise and since his passing, I was not able to write a column as everything I read was about COVID-19. It was depressing as Nonoy contracted the virus just before he passed away and which I felt made his condition spiral downward so fast.
So when I read Al Victor’s claim that he is in a “state of depression” for getting ousted from Mayor Bing Leonardia’s Grupo Progreso, I nearly fell off my chair and had a laughing fit. That really made my day!
Kidding aside, I also wanted to write again especially since Digicast Negros withstood the odds and turned one-year old last Saturday (Sept. 4). I am proud to be part of the Digicast family and be alongside the likes of Carla Gomez, Roming Subaldo, Barbara Mijares, Marchel Espina, Martian Muyco, Nico Delfin and Marty Go who is on leave and will soon become our legal adviser as soon as he passes the bar.
Back to Al Victor, he is actually a personal family friend. I am not sure though whether he is a god-child of my parents or his parents stood as godparents of one of us. But our families are very close and one of his nephews is a beau of my niece.
Al can say things incredibly well with a poker face but I seriously doubt that getting kicked out by the party that he belonged to in his entire political career, actually made him depressed. In fact, I think he expected it, as he is very close to former Cong. Albee Benitez who is will face-off with Mayor Bing in the coming elections.
And if the rumor mill is right, others are expected to jump ship as well. It’s a good thing that Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya and former councilor, Atty. Caesar Distrito had valid excuses to be absent from that Grupo Progreso gathering, otherwise, their non-appearance will further gossip that rumors of Albee getting the strength out of GP is true.
Whether GP likes it or not, Greg and Caesar jumping ship will seriously hurt them as both can bring numbers and financial support to Albee’s camp as they have their own personal following, outside of Mayor Bing’s political party.
I certainly agree that it is not easy to beat the present mayor as he has well-oiled machinery established for over two decades. He also has the financial resources I was told. But the big question remains, will Mayor Bing gamble everything he has to beat Albee who is personally known as among the richest member of the House of Congress during his stint?
Al Victor and Greg are very close to Albee. I believe it is mere drama for Al to say he still needs to know Albee’s plan to get motivated to join the latter’s slate. I’ll bet he will be in Albee’s official slate come October.
It will not be surprising as well if Greg will move to Albee’s camp as he has not been seen around Mayor Bing lately and has been making his own moves during this pandemic.
There are also talks that Caesar is being groomed to vie for the vice-mayoralty post against incumbent Vice-Mayor El Cid Familiaran, whom I think is still the man to beat. El Cid continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of the public and honestly, he has done a good job as the local IATF chair at the beginning of the pandemic, until he was swept away from the public scene when he was becoming very popular.
El Cid is a party-man and I doubt if he will entertain the idea of leaving GP. But he already had a good head start because of his performance during the onset of the pandemic.
But Caesar is also one guy to contend with as he has his own mass base. We have to give it to the family – they were able to make their mother, a senior citizen, among the top three councilors in the last election and that’s really something.
GP is also losing some graduating councilors and it will be very interesting what their slate will look like when they file their candidacies next month.
Some former officials like Thaddy Sayson, Homer Bais, Kalaw Puentevella, Jocelle Batapa-Sigue and Sonya Verdeflor are rumored to join Albee along with businessman Vladimir Gonzales and former Board Member Patrick Lacson.
Al Victor is just the first to go and based on his revelation during his recent press conference, he may hurt the present administration. His statement that he was allegedly told by Mayor Bing to keep quiet about the health care facility he authored to prioritize the building of the coliseum is already a whammy as this has become an issue against the mayor for prioritizing aesthetics over health needs, especially in this pandemic.
We have four weeks to go and I’ve been told there are more from GP who are being wooed to join the other camp. It will be very interesting to know who, but someone whispered that two or three more present in that GP meeting may just do that. Hmmm, abangan!*