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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Business as usual               

Business as usual               

Published Mar 26, 2022 12:05 am
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza What happened to Ping Lacson should not have happened, should not happen to anyone. This is politics as usual. This is politics. He put it this way: “It is the art of self-contradiction where strange bedfellows can sleep soundly together.” Presidential candidate Senator Lacson was junked by his Partido Reporma 46 days before May 9 for VP Robredo’s independent Pink. Ping will forge ahead as an independent, although Comelec declared that Reporma continues to be his party. Only the two D’s, death and disqualification, can change that. Ping’s running mate, Tito Sotto, stays as his partner. When it comes to politics and elections, everything is fluid (unlike the water supply in the NCR). Just look at what’s been unfolding in the last few days. President Duterte’s PDP Laban endorsed the candidacy of BBM, to the chagrin of PDP chief Koko Pimentel and his presidential bet, Sen. Manny Pacquiao. It was emphasized that the endorsement was not PRRD’s but the party’s. In Malacañang, BBM called on the President – no official reason given but maybe to wish him a happy birthday in advance. Speaking of elections, Sen. Imee Marcos refuses to turn off the heat and glare of public attention on Comelec, a constitutional body whose logo/seal/emblem carries the legend Vox Populi, Vox Dei, four sacred words that most people associate with official or doctrinal statements issued by the Pope from a window or chapel in the Vatican. Unfortunately, a multiplicity of persnickety issues hound Comelec’s impartiality, including integrity of ballots, millions of them already printed, sans the watchful eyes of observers; integrity of Smartmatic machines, which do not enjoy a trusted brand’s good housekeeping seal, to the point that its contract with Comelec is seen as needing revision. Another issue waits to be resolved after the Office of the Solicitor General stopped Comelec from its MOA with Rappler on constitutional grounds based on its foreign ownership. As if all that wasn’t enough to keep voters hot under the collar, the price of Brent crude has shot up to $120 a barrel. Indeed, a summer of discontent, distraction, disarray. Pacman the champion boxer said it best with this punch line: “Hindi pa tapos ang laban.” A groundswell of sympathy votes for Lacson, hopefully?

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