Why I’m running for senator

WITH distinct pride and honor, I filed my COC for senator with the Comelec Manila last 16 October 2015 together with former ambassador and incumbent OFW Family Club partylist Congressman Roy Seneres who is running for President.  Our party is the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka.

In a chance meeting with Amb./Cong. Seneres in Butuan in November 2014 after I had filed my graft complaint with the Ombudsman against former and incumbent congressmen of Misamis Oriental/Cagayan de Oro, he immediately issued a public statement published in your daily newspaper in support of the graft complaint filed by me.

I was astonished by the depth of his personal conviction against graft and corruption, noting that he is in incumbent congressman.  To my disbelief, he came out with his public statement, unmindful about the possible adverse reactions of his colleagues in Congress.

In that meeting, he told me to be one of his senatorial candidates from Mindanao, to which I was humbled and lost with words on how to react in utter awe.

As time passed by, I thought he would back out from the race.  So on the first day for filing, I was supposed to file my coc for congressman (independent) for the 2nd dist of Misamis Oriental.

But he firmly told me he would  continue with his intention to run for president.  So on 12 October 2015, I backed out of the congressional race.

Due to my previous commitment to him, I mustered all the strength and courage to accept the challenge, knowing fully well my obscurity in the national scene.  but i am unfazed.

From my perspective, running under him is consistent with my stand against graft and corruption.  The present administration is the author of the priority development assistance fund, or popularly known  as the pork barrel, and the DAP, which were both thrown into the garbage by the Supreme Court.  It is this daang matuwid administration that ironically used funds from DAP to utilize P50 million for each senator as a reward to vote for the impeachment of Chief Justice Corona.

UNA’s bet Vice President Jojo Binay epitomizes not just graft and corruption in a grand detestable scale but also the perfect form of political dynasty in a national scale.  From all reliable accounts, Binay has amassed ill-gotten wealth during his long rein as mayor of Makati City, and the country cannot afford his becoming a president  replicating his public raid on the national treasury.

To my mind, Grace Poe is disqualified to be President due to her lack of natural born citizenship and her lack of 10-year residency.  Based on pertinent decisions of the Supreme, notable of which are its decision regarding Mayor Arnado of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte and regarding a mayor of Batangas (which decision came out two days ago), I am of the well-considered and humble view that, when everything is said and done, Grace Poe is not eligible to be a presidential candidate, much less to occupy the highest office of President.  Dura lex sed lex.  The law may be hard but it is the law.  In my humble opinion, a constitutional standard of qualification for public office is a matter for the court to decide, because it is eminently a legal and constitutional issue.  The people can only exercise their sovereign right to vote and elect once a candidate possesses all the qualifications for a public office.

Cong. Seneres was a long-time ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.  He has shown compassion and sterling  public service when he saved our countryman Sarah Balabagan from the death penalty in UAE.  He became chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission, and out of his conviction, he resigned from such post in protest against the discredited Arroyo administration.

As incumbent partlist congressman, he has  been championing and will continue to champion the cause of our more than 10 million OFWs who have been in continuing exodus to foreign and hostile foreign lands due to lack of opportunities in our country.

As a candidate of the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka, he champions the cause of our laborers in seeking to abolish the contractualization of employment all over the country, which is blatantly against the security of tenure of labor enshrined in our Constitution and labor laws.

He is also fighting against graft and corruption in all forms, including the pork barrel system, which is one of the main causes of massive and endemic poverty in our country and the OFW exodus.

I am joining him in this nationwide campaign, and hope that our countrymen will support us to victory. ––Jude Sabio, atty.judesabio@yahoo.com.ph

Quo Vadis, Cagayan de Oro?

THERE must be truth to the suspicion that the blindly ambitious female councilor from district one has never left the camp of the master of deception.

Many have recalled that when the Liberal Party campaigned for the 2013 polls, that she was sleeping with the enemy, so to speak.  Self-interest rules!

Now, for the 2016 polls, she’s at it again. Of course, it must have been the plan all along.  The camp of the master of deception did not field any candidate for the congressional seat of district one.  The reason could be obvious.

I heard the candidate interviewed on radio and all she could muster were “ahh”, “umm”, “I mean”, and similar other throat-clearing blah-blah’s that sometimes make speakers appear knowledgeable or dull.

To observers, her adoption as a guest candidate by the camp of the master of deception, is either an insult to the dying political group of the architect of mendicancy which is tantamount to an admission that Cong. Klarex is unbeatable so they have to settle with an incompetent, or is merely the execution of a long-couched political plan.

Whatever it is, birds of the same feather are always the same birds.  All sorts of allegations against the master of deception and that regional office that can be identified with the overly ambitious incompetent are all over town.  They just pretend to know nothing.

Quo vadis, Cagayan de Oro?––Peter Clarete, peterclarete@gmail.com

Pretenders and Wannabes

SOCIETY and city hall full of pretenders and wannabes.

Posted on FB is a news item about the arrest of a son of the former city official who was recently.  The report says that the son was arrested in a buy-bust operation which means that he must have been under surveillance for sometime already.

While the former official cannot be absolutely faulted for the crime that may have been committed, his moral ascendancy to run for public office may be at stake.

This can be gleaned also from the way he performed his previous job.  The people around him seem to be non-performing assets themselves.  Could this be because the placement of some in circle in juicy positions in city hall is based mainly on friendship, and not competence?

What has happened to the Westbound Terminal?  Although according to reports the collection of fees has improved, the terminal and market remained to be poorly managed.  I heard the terminal and market is now under a new manager.  I hope he will overturn the incompetence of the predecessor.

Why is the operation of the RTA now under a new chief?  What happened to the boastful former chief who was supposed to be a protégé of the former city administrator?  His incompetence may be one of the reasons the traffic office has not leveled up during his command.  With the new chief, I have already seen improvements on the road.

I heard the former chief of traffic operation is now in the OBO.  Is he doing anything good there?  His perceived incompetence will hopefully not bring down the OBO and its successes.

What about the IT man of the City Administrator’s Office?  Where is he now?  He has been very active on FB posting negativism against city hall and of course, the mayor.  Wasn’t he suspected of sabotaging the current administration through FB?

Well, well, well.  Wannabes and pretenders are all over.  Just look at the list of candidates for the 2016 elections. ––Liberato Publico, liberato_publico@gmail.com