A choice between ‘palpak’ and ‘kurakot’?

Roxas vs Binay. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas bears the heavy burden of having to explain away the perception of the Aquino administration’s “kapalpakan” (bungling) in many things. Vice President Jejomar Binay is way up to his neck in graft and corruption charges, about which he refuses to answer persistently asked pertinent questions. Has the next presidential election really boiled down to choosing between Scylla and Charybdis? If so, to Roxas should go the benefit of being the lesser evil—but then again, “evil” just the same.

Hounding Roxas, who is hanging on to the coattails of President Aquino, are the Mamasapano debacle and the Disbursement Acceleration Program scandal, among other issues. His “continuity” pitch is too insipid to inspire rally. But the upside is, he has never been accused of stealing public money or enriching himself in public office. Corruption being mostly the stuff of which media headlines are made, Roxas is seldom front-page material. His public life, practically uneventful as it has been, is really boring! Even while he is at the helm of all police agencies as interior secretary, he has not made a dent: Crime incidents have increased, criminals are getting bolder! In sum, he is perceived as a nonperformer.

On the other hand, Binay has his hands full parrying rumors of ill-gotten wealth, the most stomach-turning of which being the reports that the cakes he was gifting the seniors of Makati with were supplied by a bakeshop fronting for his daughter, now Sen. Nancy Binay, and overpriced at almost P1,000 apiece. (In the latest re-bidding to supply the same kind of cakes, my family thought of joining, but the mass production required was beyond our capacity. Leviathan Goldilocks, with its famous chain of bakery outlets, reportedly nailed the deal with a price tag of only P260 apiece! Our own cost estimate is just a little over P200!) As the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigating the alleged scams of the Binay family exposed later, that was just “icing on the cake”!

Sen. Grace Poe is the favorite of the masses as shown by the surveys. Her straight-talking Senate report on the Mamasapano massacre endeared her more to the public, for having the guts to call a spade a spade. Despite her present reluctance to declare her intentions, more people are placing their bets on her as the alternative to the two undesirable wannabes. They are hoping she will soon find the gumption to go for it. The people are sick and tired of having to choose only between a “palpak” and a “kurakot”!

Does Poe stand a chance as a maverick candidate? When my father ran alone for town mayor in 2013, we honestly saw no hope for him against the stalwarts of the dominant political parties. But guess what? He won by a landslide! And come 2016, he will go for reelection—as a common candidate! We never had so much money and still don’t have much. My father’s riches lie only in his sincere desire to do good as a public servant. As the saying goes, you cannot put a good man (or woman) down.

Senator Poe, please hang on tight and keep the faith because miracles do happen once in a while…

—ANGELI O. MARCONI,[email protected]