The battle lines are drawn: Cong. Arthur Defensor, Sr. has formally announced that he is running for Governor in the May 2010 elections alongside Board Member Oscar Richard Garin, Jr. as candidate for vice governor. This tandem will face the pair of Barotac Viejo mayor Raul “Boboy” Tupas and former vice governor Roberto “Obet” Armada.
In making his declaration, Defensor said he wants to “bring back public trust to the capitol” and get rid of a “corrupt” administration. Apparently, Defensor has lost touch with reality. His view of things is distorted.
Defensor claims the Ilonggo people have long lost their trust and confidence in the Tupas administration. It’s time, he said, that there will be a change of leadership. All fire and rhetorics. But his words lack substance, as truth shows a completely different picture.
There is no better barometer of the public’s trust and confidence in a leader than the results of the elections! For more than eight years now, Defensor and his allies have been waging a relentless black propaganda campaign against Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. But this effort has failed, and the public’s trust in Governor Tupas even rose astronomically.
Why do I say this? It doesn’t require genius to figure this out. Let’s just look at the election results in 2004 and 2007.
In his first re-election bid, Governor Tupas trounced former 1st district Cong. Oscar Garin, winning by a super-landslide margin of 165,000 votes in the 2004 elections. In that electoral battle, Garin had the support of Defensor, Biron and the governor’s nephew, Rolex Suplico. Almost all the mayors in the province campaigned for Garin. So did 85% of the barangay captains.
But the people spoke in a loud voice, and repudiated the propaganda of Defensor, et al. Even the 3rd district of Iloilo voted overwhelmingly for Tupas. His own constituents didn’t buy Defensor’s propaganda line.
In 2007, Defensor and company again worked hard to unseat Governor Tupas. Conspiring with then DOJ secretary Raul Gonzalez and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, Defensor’s group concocted a crude stage play to get rid of Tupas. This came in the form of trumped-up charges of corruption in which Tupas, along with board members Domingo Oso and Celia Capadosa, allegedly absconded public funds amounting to P20,000! Tupas was to be penalized with dismissal from office! This precipidated the “Iloilo capitol siege” on January 17, 2007. Tupas was ultimately vindicated when the court threw the Ombudsman dismissal into the garbage bin.
When the dirty ploy failed, Defensor and company fielded then vice governor Armada to run against Tupas. When the smoke cleared, Tupas emerged victorious once again, this time racking a herculean margin of 206,000 votes! This is hardly a manifestation of the public’s loss of trust and confidence as Defensor claims. On the contrary, the election results show a tremendous and resounding expression of trust and confidence in Tupas!
Defensor also claims that he stands for clean and honest governance. Hah? In making this boast, Defensor pointed to the spouses Augusto and Judy Syjuco as being part of his team. As the saying goes, “tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are!” The Syjucos have emerged as the icons of the unmatched greed and corruption that are the hallmark of the Arroyo administration. Is he saying that the Syjucos are clean and honest? This is an unsolicited piece of advice to Defensor: before you throw mud at others, make sure you backyard is spotlessly clean.
Lest it be forgotten, Defensor is the knight in rusty armor of the Arroyo administration. He is the defender of the wicked and corrupt throne. Clean and honest governance? Defensor is looking the wrong way when he makes that assertion.
When Defensor was chairman of the House committee on good government, he presided over two investigations into alleged graft and corruption in the implementation of the airport project and the construction of the new capitol. Defensor, along with Jeanette Garin, Ferj Biron, Judy Syjuco and Rolex Suplico ganged up on Governor Tupas in trying to prove these projects were mired in corruption.
What happened? Nothing! After wasting millions of pesos in money and man hours, the Defensor committee found no evidence of wrong doing. Proof is that no case has ever been filed with the Ombudsman. Defensor should look for fresh ideas on issues to be flung at the Tupas administration. He is sounding like a broken record, and the Ilonggo electorate are much too intelligent to give his statements their time and attention.
The worst thing that could happen to a politician is when he starts to believe his own propaganda. This is apparently what is happening to Defensor now.
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