By MARCELO ORTIGOZA, JR.
In a baptismal last Sunday (June 14) at the St. Therese Catholic
Church in M’lang , Cotabato Province where I was one of the godfathers I
bumped into former mayor , the Spanish descent, Lugie Cuerpo. We have some
chats about the latest in politics of Pangasinan and North Cotabato.
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| Region 11 National Irrigation Administration's Manager John Celeste (Right) and Ramon Abogacia, regional chief of administration and finance, posed with the author (Center) when he dropped by recently at their office in Bolton St, Davao City. |
I asked
Cuerpo who will be the probable candidate for hizzoner of my town since my
friend Mayor Lito Pinol is on his last term.
“It could be Bobong Pinol (Lito’s younger
brother)”.
He said Lito will be challenging the
province’s 3rd District congressman Ping-Ping Tejada while older brother Manny
Pinol runs for either the governorship or vice governorship.
“It’s 2016 presidential election and
the party in Manila needs somebody to represent the presidential bet in the
boondocks,” said by the former mayor in our vernacular Ilonggo of course and
not in Shakespeare's language which he is known to be not so proficient.
Earlier grapevine said that lawyer
Vice Mayor Russel Abonodo is being groomed by supporters to run for the highest
post of the local government of the town which derived its name from the Maguindanaoan word Tamlang or Bamboo.
So where’s the multi-millionaire former
mayoral candidate Litoy Mercado in the radar screen of the town for 2016?
A source closed to the Mercados (his wife
the beauteous Grace Arana still call me ‘pakas (cousin) as the town folks
already know” whenever we meet) said that Litoy has no plan for the 2016 polls.
“Let’s leave to the prospective candidates
the politics of the town where they could earn their living. The Mercados have been discouraged anymore to run as a lot of folks have been shot, ambushed,
mauled, and suffer physical pain because of partisanship in the last election
where millions of pesos have circulated for the hoi-polloi. The Mercados are
enjoying their businesses and foreign trips abroad”.
I just heard that the Mercados, who owned
hundreds of dump trucks and other equipments in their construction firm, have
been given by the government with “Triple A” license – a prestigious badge among big time private contractors even here in Luzon.
***
When I was at Davao City last June 17, I dropped by at the office
of Regional Director Mariano Alquiza of the Department of Public Works &
Highway –Region 11 in Uyanguren Street of the city.
“Sir, mas maganda at malaki itong office ninyo kaysa sa San
Fernando City (La Union),” I posed to Alquiza who is known for his
meticulousness on details.
“Siempri malaki ito kasi Davao ito,” a
priest, who was a caller like me in his office, quipped.
I asked Alquiza to compare DPWH Region 1,
where he spent more than two years as top honcho, and his present post in
Davao “sino sir ang mas mataas ang appropriation sa budget?” I posed.
