Far From Neutral Notions - Philippine politics, culture and stuff

The title is a play on words - in reference to the film Casablanca, and Kevin Spacey’s movie, The Usual Suspects - and you’ll have to forgive the stretch in imagination. Both the opposition’s and the administration’s senatorial lineups for the May 14 polls contain - with few exceptions - the usual mix trapos of old and the up and coming opportunists. The lineups augur the usual Erap vs. GMA theme, and a very real possibility of more infighting within the Senate, particularly with the apparent split of the “Wednesday Group” of Recto, Arroyo, Pangilinan and Villar. Apart from the inclusions of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of Sulu, Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla and Oakwood mutineer Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV (whom I thought would be too risky for UNO to take on, although it might be a stroke of genius - more on this later), there were no major surprises. The names have been floating around for weeks, even though the question of who was siding with whom was still in doubt.

I do find the inclusion of Trillanes interesting, though. The mutineer is still facing charges over the ill-fated Oakwood coup, and is subject to a lot of mixed reactions from a lot of people, myself included. I’m not, and never will be, in favor of bloody revolutions or armed struggle, as frustrated as I can be sometimes. As such, I find military adventurism and “taking to the hills” NPA-style abhorrent, no matter the good intentions. They may call civilian casualties collateral damage or the costs of revolution, but it will always mean the loss of human life to me, and levying revolutionary taxes on hard-working businessmen in the provinces makes the NPA no more than brigands in my book. And yet, this administration almost inspires such behavior. I have no numbers to back this up, but I would venture to guess that JoMa Sison’s recruiters must be having a field day. Should Trillanes win, what would happen to the charges against him, I wonder? Not just from the legal issues: if the administration pushes through with the charges, the opposition can use it as a tactic to show that GMA is again bullying her political enemies and garner more sympathy, even though the government is well within its rights to pursue the case against the errant soldier. Is Trillanes the next Gringo? We’ll see.

I’m not sure about Sonia Roco, widow to the late Raul Roco. I mean, I supported her husband, but she’s an unknown quantity for me. I’m not one to support a candidate because of family ties; look at Ninoy’s sister for effin’s sake. Or his underachieving son, for that matter: what, exactly, has Noynoy done? How’s Hacienda Luisita these days? Speaking of senatoriables with family ties, I like Alan Peter Cayetano, but for the most selfish of reasons: he gets under Mike Arroyo’s skin.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, apart from knowing that he’s the Sultan of Sulu, I’m not in the least familiar with. But a few Google searches reveal that he was on GMA’s side in the 2004 elections. Will this mean a renewed focus on our claim on Sabbah?

One nice thing, tho: not a Gonzales, Gomez, Manzano and Montano in sight on either slate.

Needless to say, the stories behind the candidates should prove interesting, and in the interest of gaining a clearer view of the issues and which candidate stands for what, I’ll be collating what online articles I can find on the senatorial bets over the course of their campaign.

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