By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
Before I proceeded recently to Davao City for my 11:30 pm flight to Manila, I side tripped at Kidapawan City from the rustic town of M’lang (town of Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol and Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial) and conferred with Mindanao's political kibitzer Luvin Candari about the electoral landscapes of the Southern Island and the probable congressional, gubernatorial, and mayoral wannabees in the 2019 polls.
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| North Cotabato's Governor Lala Taliño-Mendoza |
We broke breads and quaffed our brewed coffee there at AJ Hi Time Hotel, the watering hole of politicians and bigwigs of Central Mindanao, while I pressed the kibitzer for valuable information I could use on my radio and blog.
Mr. Candari, a school mate in high school, told me that Cotabato Province's outgoing governor Emmylou “Lala” Talino Mendoza would be running unopposed for the 2019 congressional poll in the province’s Third Congressional District.
“What would happen to Representative Jose “Pingping” Tejada, my town mate in M’lang, he has still reelection to crack,” I posed.
Luvin said that Tejada could acquiesce to the ambition of the governor and run instead for the vice governorship under the ticket of Carmen Mayor Roger Talino, the father of Lala.
“Tejada could do nothing, he was a creation of the governor,” Luvin said.
By the way, according to then Duterte for President’s campaigner Pinol when I met him in Dagupan City, Roger came from Pangasinan.
My bilas Police Chief Superintendent (general in the military) Mariel Magaway told me that during the 2016 election campaign, a bearded man came to him while he was exchanging pleasantries with some generals.
The man introduced (probably saluting them) himself to him.
“Sir, kilala niyo pa ba ako?” the older Talino, the rubber and palm oil Czar of Cotabato, asked the then Colonel Magaway.
“Familiar kayo sa akin manong,” Magaway, a “mistah” at the PMA of PNP Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, retorted.
“Tao niyo ako noon sa PC (defunct Philippine Constabulary) pa tayo,” the man said.
Talino, just like former Cotabato Province’s Governor Nick Dequina, that former Kabacan town Mayor, and even former U.S Defense Secretary Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel, was a Master Sergeant – the most senior ranked for non-officer in the police and the military.
The Talinos are likened to the Espinos in Pangasinan. They have the political machineries and wherewithal to knockout their opponents come election time.
But according to Candari, comes 2019 the electoral battle field would be exciting as former Mlang Mayor Lito Piñol, the present vice mayor and younger brother of the Secretary (bitter rivals of the Talinos for the governorship), would be duking it out with Roger and outgoing Second District ‘s Congresswoman Nancy Catamco.
