“She is an exception, for balimbing she is not”
IT WAS the classic 70s song of Florante that came to mind when I viewed the Bagong Alyansa ad, which began with “Lumipas na ang gabi ng lagim.” And then the refrain of “Forward, forward together!”
“Parang kailan lang, ang mga pangarap ko’y kay hirap abutin”… Florante began.
Well, those who now march to the tune of “forward together” have always fulfilled their dreams, by moving from one political camp to another, the typical “balimbing” syndrome that characterizes Philippine politics.
I will not criticize the creator of the Alyansa ng Bagong Pilipinas ad, and, for all I know, he may even be a friend. The advertising and public relations industry is a very small community.
The client is always right, or else one cannot bag the contract, especially true in political marketing.
Parang kailan lang, we were fooled into believing that “unity” was forever, or at least until 2027 when the knives of 2028 should be unsheathed.
Parang kailan lang, those who now swear to the Alyansa and condemn the past as “gabi ng lagim” were part of, or profited from, their association with the regime they now decry as “lagim.”
One was president of the Senate under the previous regime.
Another re-electionist’s brother was Speaker of the HoR and foreign affairs secretary under the same, and was in fact the losing vice-presidential candidate of the former president, now a senator of the realm once again.
Two were even appointed to Cabinet positions by the past president, one of whom decided to switch party allegiance late last year, just in time to be part of the new Alyansa.
Two made it to the Senate in 2019 because one was Coco Martin’s “supremo” in FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano and the other danced “bu-duts” as ticket to electoral victory. Throughout the past regime’s reign, they never, ever criticized the ways of that regime.
One, the celebrated greatest name in Philippine sports, even authored a bill to re-impose the death penalty, especially for drug-related crimes, echoing the political mantra of the past leadership. He never criticized the past president until 2022 when he ran, and lost for president.
One is an effective mayor of a Metro Manila city whose sister was part of the past regime’s senatorial ticket too, even if their father was a protagonist in the 2016 presidential elections where “Duts” won. Despite the accusations of mind-blowing corruption leveled against their pater familia by no less than the previous president’s vice-presidential candidate, Duts never persecuted them.
Another’s brother was for six long years the public works secretary of Duts, in fairness an effective one who pushed the latter’s “Build, Build, Build” program until the pandemic struck. Together they want to be in the Senate, the young lady seeking to replace their mother who is graduating after 12 long years.
A well-known broadcast journalist had an elder sister who was appointed to the Cabinet in the past regime, only to be disgraced because of a scandal related to her brothers being awarded an advertising contract. Incidentally, the brothers are both gunning for senatorial seats, to join another brother elected in 2022.
One is a truly effective senator who in fairness remained independent of whoever was in Malacanang, and claims to be independent still. Is he condemning the past regime as “gabi ng lagim” as well?
Quizically, the president’s elder sister is not in the new audio-visual anthem of the Alyansa. She is running as an independent even if her brother the president included her in his “forward together” Alyansa.
Asked by a media interviewer why she was not in the Alyansa commercial, she answered that she could not accept the “gabi ng lagim” as descriptive of the previous administration.
Like the other senators named in this column earlier, she too was endorsed by the previous president in 2019, and does not forget.
More tellingly, that previous president was the one who allowed the Marcos pater familia to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, maintaining that it was the right and legal thing to do.
Previous presidents, even one who was a second cousin of the former president, refused to allow the burial, afraid as they were of political backlash.
She is an exception, for balimbing she is not.
