No longer viable bets

Batas Mauricio

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the new set officers of the National Press Club of the Philippines who will serve a two-year term led by President Paul Gutierrez and newly minted NPC director Benedict Abaygar Jr. of GNN Cable Network.

The marching orders for Gutierrez, Abaygar, and the rest of the victors in last Sunday’s elections is to join other newsmen from the provinces who have petitioned the Supreme Court to declare as unconstitutional the Revised Penal Code provisions on libel. It is time to do away with libel as a crime, as international conventions and agreements where the Philippines is a signatory have relentlessly urged.

Also, Gutierrez and Abaygar must start pressuring incoming lawmakers to muster enough courage to pass legislation that would decriminalize libel. We are fed up with congressmen and senators, and even lawyers, who have initiated proposals to remove libel as a crime, only to turn around later if they themselves are made the subject of biting press criticisms.

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Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, the running mate of Davao mayor and leading presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, appears to have conceded, in an open letter to Press Secretary Edwin Lacierda, defeat in his vice presidential fight. In his closing sentence in that letter, while he firmly announced that Duterte is going to win, he said nothing about his own chances.

Which is what it should be, for a practical politician like Cayetano. He knows when defeat stares him in the face. But that is just a small part of his letter to Lacierda. Here are some of what Cayetano said, in response to Lacierda’s letter to Duterte: “The corrupt that you despise so much are hiding in the very government that you represent and defend…”

Cayetano had more: “Before signing bank secrecy waivers became fashionable, as early as March 11, Mayor Duterte and I signed a waiver and sent copies to our rivals so they may do the same. Sadly, none of them, not even your candidate, heeded our request. Yet when Mayor Duterte became the target of a well-oiled negative campaign, your candidate suddenly became the champion of bank waivers. What grand hypocrisy!”

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The greatest beneficiary, or so it would seem now, of the exposes of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV against the bank accounts of Duterte is Sen. Grace Poe.

Now, those opposing Duterte are boldly saying the only one who can stop him from winning the presidency is Grace, and the only way to make Grace a strong candidate, these Duterte oppositionists are saying, is for Liberal Party candidate Mar Roxas and United Nationalist Alliance candidate Jejomar Binay to withdraw their bids and openly support Poe.

This is going to be painful for Mar and Binay, of course, but, if they do not wish to see a Duterte victory, there is no other way for them but to withdraw and openly declare their support for Grace and really cooperate with one another, at this point in time, to defeat Duterte who appears all set to win.

I have yet to see reactions from the camp of Binay about this proposal, but known allies of Roxas appear to have been given the go-signal to declare they are switching in favor of Poe. One of such allies is the undersecretary of a major Cabinet department of the Aquino government who has in fact come out in the open, praising the proposal for Roxas and Binay to withdraw.

In his Facebook account, the undersecretary captioned a post entitled “Only Grace Poe can stop Duterte juggernaut-Teddy Locsin” with his own statement: “Respected journalist Teddyboy Locsin is right yet again. Sa Gobyernong may Puso, walang maiiwanan.” The use of capital letters for the word “right” is that of the undersecretary himself.

What was Locsin right about that the undersecretary conformed to with his own effusive praise for Grace Poe? Here was what Locsin said, which can be read at http://politics.com.ph/only-grace-poe-can-stop-a-duterte-juggernaut-teddy-locsin/: “Poe is the only candidate that can stop Duterte from winning the elections.” Locsin, for good measure, also cursed those who sought the disqualification of Grace from the presidential race, in the style that Duterte is famous for.

There is some sense in this kind of a proposal. Mar and Binay anyway have not been improving in their ratings, and are no longer the strong contenders that they used to be, or they fancied themselves to be. If we are to believe the current survey results, there is no more opportunity for them to win the presidency.

Indeed, the battle at this point has been limited to two candidates only–Duterte and Grace. They are the only two “presidentiables” now who have the chance of winning. Roxas and Binay are no longer viable. The best that they can do now, if truly they also abhor a Duterte presidency, is for them to withdraw from the race, and then rally their own supporters to vote for Grace.

Of course, Duterte supporters appear unfazed and unmoved over the allegations of Trillanes against their chosen candidate, and it is unlikely they would ever dump him now in favor some other candidate. In fact, Trillanes’ moves could even increase Duterte’s support among the undecided voters, or even among the supporters of Roxas and Binay. Some are hoping Roxas and Binay will see the light, and act like real statesmen this time.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com