Mayor Sonny's NBI assessment

Murcia Mayor Sonny Coscolluela should understand that not everybody had listened to his explanation that it was the National Bureau of Investigation's recommendation that prompted him to go to town with his exposé on the plot against his life. I must admit having suspected that he simply wanted to dramatize the plot. But it was because it was only on Sunday that I heard Sonny say that he had submitted to Reynaldo Golez, the self-confessed hitman, and his video tapes as well as tapes about his conversation with Lina Lazanas.

Anyway, he has a point. It was professionally evaluated and he went to town with it. The primary objective was to foil the plot's being implemented. And, second, to protect the people around him.

Theatrics, however, may have spurred Sonny to forget that he must still have the imprimatur of the professionals to back up his exposé about Golez and the alleged masterminds of the conspiracy for his assassination.

Anyway, just for the record, Ms. Gilda Puey is the leading advocate of Coscolluela. And Gilda has reason to. She was the one who had all the time helped Sonny arrange for the assistance of the Spanish government of Murcia, Spain, for our local town.

Thus, for Gilda, Coscolluela was the only town mayor who spent time and money to source funds for the Murcia public market. And he even went to Spain, himself, tried to learn Spanish so he could speak even if only a smattering of it, and became the darling of the Spaniards later.

In short, for Gilda, only Sonny's obsession for Murcia enabled him to earn the support of the Spanish officials of Murcia, Spain.

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While everyone seems to be laboring under the illusion that the administration party enjoys widespread popular support with local government executives pledged to endorse the administration ticket, it seems most have overlooked how the intense rivalries among the various candidates of the coalition parties can undercut that support.

Okay if the local competition remains comfortable. But elections are never clear-cut. Thus, we see Lakas bets who have joined the KAMPI camp and put themselves up as rival candidates for the same local positions.

So they all pledge to support the coalition ticket. And this is the mindset that seems to be the main focus of the administration leaders - that their local leaders will continue to pursue the interests of the senatoriables of the party in power.

Unfortunately, the situation could so deteriorate that local political rivals may have to resort to working so hard in winning that they can forget their national allies. That's the reality of Philippine politics. On the other hand, local polls can also cross party lines to support one or two favorites from among the opposition ticket. Or they can bargain some of their support for one, two, or three of the senatorial candidates. Therein lies the danger to the Team Unity ticket. Junking can become a common phenomenon this election. Especially when the going gets rough for the local candidates even if they belong to same coalition which has declared a particular area "free zone."

The free zone tag does not guarantee the loyalty of the local candidates for their national ticket. Some can become so besieged for finances that they may barter their personal loyalties for assistance from some of the senatoriables of the other sides.

The fact that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, herself, had to order her party mates in Kampi to refrain from enticing Lakas members to join their ranks is, itself, an indication that she must have realized that the intramurals can prove disastrous for her senatorial bets. The worse is that the Team Unity is also suffering from the same problems as the Genuine Opposition - lack of logistics, organization and as well as scheduling.

Thus, if they will also be hobbled by the problem of intense intramurals among administration supporters, the chances are that they may find themselves abandoned in the process.

The harsh realities. When a local bet finds himself or herself threatened by defeat because of lack of finances or wherewithal to buoy up her his/her chances, the likeliest thing that will be done is to cross the ranks of party loyalty and make do with whoever can provide them the necessary assistance. Since normally that will entail only one, two, or even three from the opposite ticket, accommodations can be done without fear of recriminations later.

Now, the President seems to have risen from her stupor and has been roused from illusions of invincibility of the coalition. Precisely, because it is a coalition, it can be fragmented easily by a multiple crises in several places that will ultimately spell a disaster for the coalition and, possibly, result in an overwhelmingly victory to the GO.*

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