“No Senate President had achieved Numero Uno since Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Those who tried, faltered. But can Escudero buck the ‘regla’?”
In the unique politics of the benighted land, where political systems are easily manipulated and institutions are dysfunctional, always expect the unexpected.
Bubulaga ang mga pangyayari, unless of course you are part of the unexpected. (My apologies to friend Joey de Leon for using his trademark “bulaga”).
Last week’s beheading in the Senate is another instance of this history of surprises.
In the run-up to the mid-terms of 2025, expect more surprises in the next few months.
Even with just the shake-up in the Senate leadership, the personalities leading to 2028 have changed as well.
Where before it was Sara of the solid South as indisputable first claimant to the presidency she bequeathed to Marcos of the solid North, a neophyte senator who replays his broadcast popularity in the halls of the chamber has been stealing the singular thunder over the reigning presidential heiress.
Where this time two years back the populace hailed the “Uniteam” as sign of happy days being here again, now that marriage of convenience is broke. Perhaps this was not entirely unexpected, except that it is happening too soon.
Underneath all this history of the unexpected is the promotion of personal ambition and economic interests, the first having many conspirators, the second having permanent interests.
Political and economic interests, but for very rare moments in our history, always end up feeding upon each other.
They say that the speakership of the HoR is a waiting casket for the presidency. Mitra, de Venecia, Villar — all of them faltered.
But in pre-war years, this was not the case.
Osmena was speaker before he became Quezon’s vice-president, and when the latter died, he became president. Roxas was Speaker of the House too, yet after the war, he was elected president of the Third Republic.
Only after the martial law episode did HoR speakers seek the presidency, and failed. Will the current speaker, first cousin to the president, buck the pre-martial law “regla” and revive the pre-war trend?
Will this be another “unexpected”?
Media personalities began to hug the political limelight with the late Eddie Ilarde in the 70s, followed by Orly Mercado in the 80s, then Loren Legarda in the 90s and Noli de Castro by the turn of the century. Only VP Noli went higher than senator.
Tinsel town’s entry into national politics began with Rogelio de la Rosa, followed by Joseph Estrada, who became president until removed by a coup following a botched impeachment trial.
FPJ almost made it, but for Hello Garci of GMA. Tito Sotto rose to become Senate President but failed to win as vice-president in 2022.
Until Chiz Escudero’s feat of legerdemain occurred last week, never had a son or daughter of Bicolandia reached the third perch in the political hierarchy, although one zoomed to the vice-presidency yet lost in her bid for the presidency.
No Senate President had achieved Numero Uno since Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Those who tried, faltered. But can Escudero buck the “regla”?
One who runs for president and loses gets no second chance, or so the “regla” goes.
Remember Roco, Miriam and Lacson. But are losers for vice-president exempt from this rule? Let us see if Heart’s Chiz has what it takes.
Mar Roxas lost the vice-presidency by a whisker to Jojo Binay in 2010, and six years later, both of them lost to the first mayor, from Davao at that, in the presidential race.
Still, the original Manuel A. Roxas was removed from the speakership by his political patron, the legendary MLQ. But in his own words, he “landed in the arms of the people.”
Can Juan Miguel Zubiri, the son of an Ilonggo transported to Bukidnon, follow the Ilonggo Pres. Roxas and land in the esteem of the people come 2028?
“Are there any more?” Then congressman Edmundito Reyes of Marinduque, my “kinakapatid,” asked when scrounging for votes to impeach GMA.
Will any winners in 2025 capture the imagination of the public as to be considered for the top two posts come 2028, other than Inday Sara, Raffy Tulfo, Imee Marcos, Martin Romualdez, Migs Zubiri and Chiz Escudero?
As always, we should be in constant watch for the unexpected, just as in January of 2015, someone from left field, a foul-mouthed mayor from the deep South, began his “impossible” quest through a “listening tour” in my family’s events place in Butuan City and from there proceeded to become president of the land.
