Newks' reason for `antics'

Politicos and some members of media hooted down Rep. Monico Puentevella for his "antic" of claiming that he had won the election by a narrow margin and insisting that the public be fed with his meticulously-counted precinct by precinct results. And the worse thing. He was using the Liberal Party election returns to bolster his claim. And why not the Lakas-CMD Ers?'

A very legitimate question.

I, myself, had my own misgivings about it. Why not just wait for the canvassing of votes by the city board of canvassers?

But I think Vice Mayor Renecito Novero, who is a lawyer himself, may have betrayed that he knew the purpose of Newks dramatic "antics".

He even theorized that the solon may have done it to ready himself for any "scenario" that he intended to do afterwards.

Then I realized that Puentevella had sound reason for his troubling gestures. Then, I got hold of Newks copy of the ERS from the LP. These reportedly were furnished him by losing mayoralty bet Enteng Ponteras. Perhaps, Enteng had never realized that he has equipped Puentevella with his strongest argument why some of the ER's should not be tampered with or doctored.

Now, armed with both the Lakas-CMD and LP returns, Puentevella had reason to signal both the Commission on Elections and the other party (Progresso) that there should be no more shenanigans tolerated.

The rewarding aspects of the entire drama was the fact that Newks kept repeating that he was willing to accept defeat provided that it did not depart too much from the detailed counting of the votes based on the LP Ers and, I supposed, on the Lakas copy of the returns.

But the most jarring was the admission by Puentevella that he and his think tank were caught napping by the special operations launched by his opponents.

This included the assault on his bailiwicks. That resulted in the last minute conversions of known allies such as those of Handumanan barangay and those of Villamonte.

In short, as I had earlier reported, this was a well-planned move that caught them with their pants down.

"We took it easy, the surveys three days before elections showed that I was winning by a wide margin," he said. I recalled that what was exactly what had happened during the contest between former Mayor Alfredo Montelibano, Jr. and City Mayor Evelio Leonardia in the past. The Montelibano camp was caught completely unaware of what the opposing group had planned to do on the eve of Election Day.

Of course, that's all history.

If you were in Newks place what would you have done? Make sure that you don't get hit on the neck again while you were sleeping.

Thus, instead of deriding him for his gestures, we must doff our hat to him for defending his right to a correct final count.

We have to admit that Rev. Fr. Eddie Panlileo wrote history by getting proclaimed as duly-elected governor of Pampanga province.

Even yesterday, there were already efforts to tear him down to size. There were talks about how he must resign his priesthood so he could devote his time to his new vocation - that of a government official. But if one were to gauge Fr. Panlileo's crusade, perhaps, he has the capacity to be able whip up the people of Pampanga behind his vision of a jueteng-free province. Not an easy task.

The road ahead will be spurious. He does not have the full cooperation of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. They can always sabotage his efforts at ridding the province of its reputation as the hotbed of jueteng.

It will really be a difficult task for Fr. Panlileo. But, perhaps, a man who had shown his devotion to the cause of his God, Fr. Panlileo may be able to infect Kampapangan with his vision of a "liberated province."*

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