THERE are many things that senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares stand for that I don?t share but genuine love of country is not one of them. The Bayan Muna party-list representative is a patriot. That?s why he has my vote.
Neri, who is a Bisaya from Negros and who once studied engineering at the old Cebu Institute of Technology, tops the list of Senate aspirants I?d vote for along with Risa Hontiveros. The others: Franklin Drilon, Ping Lacson, TG Guingona, Roman Romulo, Francis Tolentino, Leila de Lima, Lorna Kapunan, Susan Ople and Serge Osme?a.
The last slot is still open but not to Alma Moreno and Manny Pacquiao. Moreno?s television interview by Karen Davila warns me that a stint in the Senate would be a similar disaster. On the other hand, I believe that Manny will be able to serve the country better in the boxing ring than in the Senate.
He doesn?t need my vote in order to win, anyway. Pre-election surveys have consistently found him in the winning circle. Not even his fight with Timothy Bradley next month can stop his expected march to the hall that used to be the exclusive domain of such intellectual giants as Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Ta?ada, Jovito Salonga, Jose W. Diokno and yes, even Ferdinand Marcos.
Another senatorial aspirant said Pacquiao should postpone his Bradley fight or face disqualification. Walden Bello argued that Pacquiao would gain undue advantage over the other senatorial candidates if the fight were held as scheduled since it would mean massive media exposure for the boxer.
I am not an election lawyer but I don?t think the law is that strict as to deprive a candidate of his right to a living during the campaign period. The Fair Election Act does prohibit the airing or public exhibition of any show or movie that portrays the life or biography of a candidate or that in which the candidate is an actor, during the campaign period. But there is nothing there that says a sportsman should quit the game in the meantime.
Pacquiao should not be barred from fighting. That?s where he?s good at. So he gets free publicity from fighting Bradley but so what? Come to think of it, that, perhaps, is his only chance of getting media exposure. Bello and the others can at least grant interviews but after what happened to his ?masahol pa sa hayop? comments, do you think Pacquiao would even dare being asked by someone with a microphone or a camera again?
Let Pacquiao?s fists do the talking. That?s where he?s good at. I don?t know how he could capitalize on those boxing skills in the Senate but if the majority of the voters believe he can find a way, then so be it.
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The good news is that Mayor Michael Rama has submitted a supplemental budget for the Jica loan payment. The bad news is that he again wants to pay the debt in full and source the money from the proceeds of the sale of the SRP lots last year. If the City Council again decides to ignore this latest budget proposal from the mayor, I will not be surprised anymore.
What surprised me was the willingness of a presumably prudent and non-political entity like Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to get involved in a sticky political issue by writing a letter to Rama demanding full payment of the loan.
We all remember Rama saying early this year that he would ask Land Bank to send that letter to the city. That was when the deadline for the payment of the first amortization in 2016 on the loan was fast approaching and there was no budget for the same, putting the city at risk of defaulting.
The feared default never happened, however, as Rama was able to convince Land Bank to extend the period of payment to Aug. 20, this year. It now seems that Rama was also able to persuade Land Bank to send the letter that he requested. Hmm, that?s interesting.
