Manny Valdehuesa
PEOPLE ask whether the Rodriguez family doesn’t mind being charged with dynasty-building now. It arises with the reported plan of Abamin Party-List Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr to fill the seat of his brother Rufus.
If so, it would be a great pity, as it would dilute the moral advantage people thought Rufus gained by heeding the constitutional ban on political dynasties.
For a week or so, Cagayanos were abuzz with the prospect of seeing Congressman Rufus pitted opposite Ex-Mayor Dongkoy Emano, a notorious dynasty builder. After he reportedly inhibited his wife and sister from running, Congressman Rufus’s entry into the mayoralty race was greeted as a promising prospect.
To the reform-minded, the dynasty issue is a line on the sand that needs to be crossed, to be challenged. Choosing a candidate can be simplified by raising a question: 1) Should I elect one who complies with the Constitution or one who defies or violates it? 2) If I want a law-abiding or compliant candidate, whom shall I pick: Oca or Rufus? Dongkoy would be the odd-man out. But if Maxie runs in the 2nd District, so goes the buzz, all bets are off and CDO becomes open season.
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The Rule of Law continues to be severely tested. But Cagayanos can help resolve it through their votes. The election is a sort of referendum on the Rule of Law. Are you for lawfulness or lawlessness?—a forthright question, that is never resolved satisfactorily.
Any citizen in his right mind can answer it but somehow no conclusive answers are given. So we end up with dubious election winners.
Ponder the ex-mayor: known gambler, inveterate smoker, and protector of gambling lords who keeps getting elected. Behold the City Council: resonating with the voice of gambling lords and vested interests; command votes sweetened by patronage keep them in power.
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Who is the “Masiao King” or the “Suwertes King” in the city? Who’s the a reckless-driving Councilor who killed a young man, eluded justice with impunity, then got re-elected at the instance of his patron and party.
Such incidents reflect how lightly we citizens view the Rule of Law. We let criminal-minded, unscrupulous people go free on a “technicality.”
This same moral looseness makes people elect a scofflaw mayor to become vice mayor so he can readily reclaim the mayor’s seat next round. Although ignorant of a vice mayor’s duty, which is to preside over the City Council’s sessions, he ran.
True enough, not once did he preside except to bang the gavel on opening day. The rest of his term he simply gave a lame alibi or lie to explain his absence and failure to preside—every session day!
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That’s how powerful Emano and his patronage-indulgent party have become. When he was vice mayor, his party-mates simply looked the other way, ignored his derelict conduct, and let him collect full salary and emoluments—betraying the public trust, shamelessly allowing him a free ride on the city’s treasury.
Soon, the same gang of scofflaws—with lawyers and other professionals among them!—will again test the limits of Cagayanos’ sense of justice and propriety by their candidacy.
It’s clear that no bad or immoral conduct will deter its patriarch and his followers from living off the fat of the city!
(Manny Valdehuesa is PPI-UNICEF outstanding columnist awardee, author of books on governance, and national chairman/convenor of the Gising Barangay Movement Inc. valdehuesa@gmail.com)
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