A caveat against Chiz

We would like to air this caveat against Sen. Chiz Escudero who is at this point making his rivals in the vice presidential race eat his dust. Together with presidential candidate Jejomar Binay, he seems well on his way to Malacañang in 2016… on to 2022! 

Recall how in 2010 he turned his back on the Liberal Party’s candidate for vice president, Mar Roxas. All along he had been in the tank for then vice presidential candidate Binay and he came out openly for him just weeks before the elections. Binay beat Roxas resoundingly—thanks, many thought, to Escudero! 

We cannot help but feel that Escudero may now be in another “betrayal mode” in light of the strong possibility that Grace Poe, his presidential running mate, may be disqualified. His deafening silence, when he should be loudly denouncing the seeming conspiracy to exclude Poe’s name from the ballot, is quite intriguing.

We would not at all be surprised if Escudero stepped on the head of Gringo Honasan (Binay’s last and desperate choice for a vice presidential running mate) who should wise up to that probable scenario. That’s just the stuff of which Escudero is made. He seems to go by that hackneyed motto: There are no permanent friends, just permanent self-interest.

Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez David once pointed out that Escudero is “among the most opportunistic politicians” this country has seen (“Lesson from the INC protest,” Opinion, 9/1/15).  Despite all pretenses to the contrary, he inevitably goes where the wind blows, i.e., first in Poe’s way, now in Binay’s. Has anyone ever heard him join the public outcry to make Binay answerable for the multiple corruption and plunder charges against him and his family?

—ROSE ANNE BARTOLOME,
[email protected]