12/21/2009There are reports that within the Liberal Party (LP) camp that this early, a power struggle is rearing its ugly head among the supporters of presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and vice presidential bet Manuel Roxas II.
That is the apparent reason that despite the lead, which, however, is being whittled away fast, of Noynoy in various surveys, the LP campaign seems heading nowhere.
A valid concern about the current LP infighting even before its candidates do win, presupposing that they do, what more conflicts are in the offing when Noynoy steps into Malacañang.
What is apparent in the developing rift between supporters of Noynoy supposedly led by former Sen. Franklin Drilon and the backers of Roxas led by former Education Secretary Florencio Abad is that both camps cannot wait to get their spoils from the victory they are perceiving to be already theirs.
That is apart from the other factions, such as the usual civil socialite-supporters in one camp, with the Aquino-Cojuangco group working in the shadows.
It was Roxas who was initially groomed as party standard bearer — that was until former President Corazon Aquino, Noynoy’s mother, died.
The Roxas campaign which tried to run on the promise for an honest government as opposed to the corrupt administration of Gloria never found its wings as Roxas hogged the cellar of surveys on the presidency.
The LP then was faced with the problem of devising a more effective persona for Roxas to make him capture the imagination of the public which included squeezing dry his romantic affair with popular news anchor Korina Sanchez, now his wife.
The LP bet was ranged against the very liquid candidacy of Sen. Manuel Villar, the popular pull of former President Joseph Estrada and the then youth favorite Sen. Francis Escudero.
Roxas was getting the support mainly only from the civil socialites, who were, and still are, to blame for imposing the nine-year blight called Gloria Arroyo on the country, and a sprinkling of the Edsa I groups, including some Ayala Avenue businessmen and guess what? The former lawyers of Gloria Arroyo.
The death of Cory Aquino opened the way for an LP shortcut to Malacañang by taking advantage of public sympathy from her death. What happened next was almost too predictable, Noynoy would have to carry the flag for the LP and Roxas would slide down as Noynoy’s vice presidential running mate.
It did happen and in the process created two centers of power within the party. Noynoy was then built up by the civil socialites as the only logical choice in place of Gloria and quickly it seems the machinery that conspired to overthrow Estrada in 2001 was reactivated and Noynoy was immediately publicized to be on top of the surveys.
Floated initially, through the help of Yellow Army media, was a Social Weather Station survey showing Noynoy getting some 60 percent preference for the presidency. What the report on the survey tried to gloss over was the fact that the survey was undertaken in select regions in Luzon where the Aquinos have a sizable following.
Subsequent surveys showed that Noynoy still has the lead, thanks to the boost from the misleading SWS survey, but at far lower ratings.
The early lead of Noynoy, however, is being taken by the groups within the LP to be a sure indication of an Aquino administration in 2010.
Where Gloria will leave off with transactional politics by June next year, the LP seems to have taken over. Politicians perceived to be Gloria’s top butt lickers have jumped to the LP stable, thus creating another group within the party that will stop at nothing to maintain their hold on political power.
Thus, the LP is now divided into groups madly pulling at each other’s hair for being out of the circle of power for so long and those who are fighting to get an assurance that they will retain their hold on power.
That is happening even before the feuding Aquino forces step into Malacañang. Imagine when they do, hopefully not.
The public, if one goes by the suspect surveys, still appears to perceive Noynoy as a worthy alternative to Gloria, but the sentiment is far from him being a leader but an entitlement for being the son of two national figures who have been made larger than life by the same scheming Yellow civil socialites.
It seems that with a lot of help from his circle of power-hungry backers, Noynoy’s candidacy is heading for self-destruction.
Original Story: http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20091221com1.html
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