Following is my YTT column for this weeks isyu of OpinYon: “TO GRACE OR NOT TO GRACE? Armies and Mobs!” by LinggoyAlcuaz in OpinYon’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, March 14 – 20, 2016. YESTERDAY Over a span offorty five years, I have advised many Presidentiables to run for Vice Presidentfirst, instead of running for President at the first opportunity that they had.Among them were former Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Senator Raul S.Manglapus (August 1972 – at his suite at the Manila Hotel, just the two of us.),former Cagayan de Oro City Mayor and Assemblyman, Minister/Secretary of LocalGovernment, Senator and Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. (afterthe May 1984 elections for the Assemblymen for the Batasang Pambansa during aPDP Laban National Council meeting held in Bacolod City.), former San JuanMayor, Senator, Vice President and President Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada(October 2007 and November 2013, at his Hayes Street Clubhouse in NorthGreenhills, San Juan City, just the two of us..) and former Congressman andSenator and now President Benigno “Noynoy” Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino (August2009 but not directly to him.). If I had had theopportunity, I would have advised former Assemblyman and Senator Salvador P.Laurel, former Immigration Commission Chairman and Secretary of Agrarian ReformMiriam Defensor Santiago and Senator Grace Poe Llamanzares to do the same. In mid - 2008 or2009, I advised Mayor Jejomar “Jojo” Cabauatan Binay to run first for theSenate before running for Vice President. In the middle of a very importantmeeting with many important officials, h spent half an hour explaining to mewhy he could and should go for the Vice Presidency then and therefore thePresidency now. Among the aboveleaders, the one who took my advise in the most sportsman - like manner wasErap. The ones whom I felt took my advise most sourly and maybe bitterly wereNene and Raul.TODAY Last Tuesday,March 8, International Women’s Day, the Supreme Court’s spokesman announcedthat the Court had decided 9 vs. 6 in favor of Grace Poe and against theCOMELEC on the Grace Poe Disqualification cases. As of our deadline lastFriday, the Supreme Court had not released the Majority Decision. However, thePonente’s Draft which is now the Minority’s Dissenting Opinion was leaked. In publiccomments, interviews and speeches, statistically tied for first place with VicePresident Jejomar “Jojo” C. Binay in the latest survey, Senator Grace Poe madeknown that she had secret political allies. She announced that she expectedsome of them to come out now that her DQ was out of the way. Last Tuesday andWednesday nights, I dropped by the Adopt Grace Poe Headquarters (AGPM) alongShaw Blvd. in Mandaluyong City in order to deliver “Isko Moreno for Senator”calendars. City of Manila Vice Mayor Isko Domagoso Moreno is running forSenator in the Grace Chiz or Poe Escudero Senate Slate. Since, Monday, January4, which happened to be my fellow FPJ supporter and friend Rez Cortez’sbirthday, I have tried to pass by once a week to bring cheer and calendars tomy 2004 FPJ for President Campaign acquaintances, fellow travelers, friends,followers, supporters and etcs. The first time Iwent to the AGPM HQ was on September 4, 2015, during the organization’s as wellas its HQ’s soft launching. As a supporter, organizer, member and leader ofvarious FPJ projects, organizations, networks and alliances, I was not onlyinvited to attend but also to speak. Fortunately, I like to speak and talkabout history and so, I started my impromptu speech with a narration of eventsthat started a few years before the 2004 elections and ended my narration waybefore I reached the the 2013 and 2016 elections. Despite severalinvitations from the AGPM Secretariat, I had not gone back until I received aninvitation for Rez Cortez’s Birthday Celebration and dinner on Monday, January4. However, the party was postponed to Thursday, January 7. I still came onMonday and came back on Thursday. Without deception or dissimulation, ie., Idid not hide but neither did I shout out that I was still for Binay, I feltwelcome among old friends. Thus, for the past ten weeks, I have made myself “WELCOME”among them. I always try not to run out of both Erap and Isko calendars todeliver. During the pastweek, many acquaintances, allies, colleagues and friends, have approached me,called me and talked to me about their joining me in supporting Grace Poe. Myfirst reaction is to explain that I am “Binay Pa Rin!”, “Not Yet Bong Bong!”and “Grace Poe in 2022!” My second answer is that I can introduce them to theproper channels or prganizations or persons that I know or that I know of. Andthen, if they have the time, I talk to hem about Our History starting in 1946. TOMORROW In my pastcolumns, I have analyzed certain aspects of the current campaigns andcandidates. Focusing on the two front runners, Binay and Poe, I believe thatPoe is ahead in Perception and propaganda and Binay is ahead in experience andorganization. Very briefly, when we judge a book by the covers, Poe’s cover isvery good and Binay’s cover is very bad. The contents of Binay’s book, I haveread most of the chapters. The contents of Poe’s book, I have only read theIntroduction. When I believedin and supported Magsaysay, I was five to seven years old. When I believed inand supported Manglapus, I was past seven until my late thirties. When I first believedin and supported the Pimentels, I was in late grade school, then during the1971 Con Con and the Martial Law Years and finally in PDP and PDP Laban. Aftera hiatus, I supported Koko Pimentel during his protest of the 2007 SenatorialElections. When I got toknow, believe in and support Liberal Party President and Senator Gerardo “Gerry”Acuna Roxas (Mar Roxas’s father), I was dropping out of college and was aModerate Student and Youth Activist in the Christian Democratic and SocialDemocratic Mold. When I gotintroduced by myself (my August 1972 appointment arranged by my cousin 1971 Concon Delegate for the 4th District of Manila Antonio S. RebullidaAraneta) to Senator Benigno “Ninoy”Aquino at his Times Street residence, it was a month before Martial Law. Forthe next eleven years, I got to know him and his family better. Not only I, butwe got to believe and support hm to the death. After Ninoy was assassinated,there was Cory and the surviving Aquinos as well as the Cojuangcos. How I got to knowErap, believe in him, join him, leave him, believe in him again, support him,go on vacation from him, come back to him … is a separate and whole story byitself… The question formany today, is “To Grace or Not To Grace?” For Me that isnot the Most Important Decision or Question. The Questionsthat One and All and I have to and should Answer are: “Can a Mob Defeat anOrganized Army? Or “With Sufficient Funds, Can a Mob be Whipped into anOrganized Army in Just Two Months?”
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OpinYon YTT 160310 for 0314 to 0320 .docx
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