IT DOES SEEM like an effortless segue; all one has to do is to add the prefix Jr. and you can hardly notice the difference. Perhaps there’s really no difference at all.
Of course, the natives of Iloilo Province can expect a much younger and vibrant version but seasoned in the art of good governance.
Incumbent Iloilo governor Arthur Defensor Sr. is on his last term and this midterm local elections his son, currently 3rd District congressman Arthur Defensor Jr. a.k.a.”‘Toto” is waiting in the wings, poised to take over as the next governor of Iloilo Province.
And it has come to pass he won as governor, if we were to base it on the April 15 unofficial and partial results of the Panay News 2019 Midterm Election Online Survey which shows:
For Governor
Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. – 67.6 percent
Ferjenel “Ferjie” Biron – 31.8 percent
For Vice Governor
Niel “Beng” Tupas III – 66.7 percent
Christine “Tingting” Garin – 33.3 percent
There is no doubt based on this April 15 partial and unofficial online survey results Arthur Defensor Jr. a.k.a. “Toto” won by more than 50 percent from the total respondents of this online survey, a lopsided landslide, a massacre over governor wannabe Ferjenel Biron a.k.a. “Ferjie”.
Doing the math, on the online survey results showed a very insurmountable lead of 33.8 percent, a tough mountain to climb indeed for the portly “Ferjie”.
Meanwhile in the run up to the vice governor, Toto Defensor’s running mate Niel Tupas III a.k.a. “Beng” has also a very insurmountable lead over rival Christine Garin a.k.a. “Tingting”.
The lead of Beng is a little over 50 percent over Tingting which amounts to a 33.3 percent difference between the two rivals for vice governor of Iloilo Province.
A massacre indeed and from the look of things this will be the trend come actual Election Day.
Moi is pretty sure that the opposite camp’s response would be, “It’s just a survey and not the actual elections, and it could be rigged for all we know.”
Of course it is just a survey, but if that’s any indication then any candidate wanting to be governor of Iloilo Province would take it seriously and prepare Plan B.
The survey is basically a “one on one” between “Ferjie” Biron and “Toto” Defensor Jr. which is expected as both are the only serious contenders with any chance of winning as governor of Iloilo Province.
Based on that online survey, it’s a lopsided victory, almost a massacre with “Toto” Defensor winning with almost no chance for “Ferjie “Biron, he must be squirming in his drawers or knickers. Of course, Moi does not know if they’re Marks and Spencer or Calvin Klein or if they’re drawers or knickers.
But whatever it is Ferjie Biron is wearing under his trousers does not really matter; definitely with this survey results he must be concerned if not uncomfortable.
Seriously guys, Moi does not really know Ferjenel Biron a.k.a. “Ferjie”, never met him. If I was having my usual caffeine fix in Starbucks and he walks in I’d probably never notice him unless he comes in announced by one of his people.
Moi heard that Ferjenel Biron a.k.a. “Ferjie” is filthy rich; whether he is as filthy rich as Rommel Ynion we do not know for sure. We also have no idea if he has been described as an ATM.
I heard that “Ferjie” has a penchant for giving out pails with “bihon” in it and school bags with his name prominently emblazoned on the bags.
Nothing really wrong with that if you have a taste for “pancit bihon” and also a penchant for being a walking billboard.
So he’s a medical doctor by profession and a politician by practice but Moi is pretty sure he still remembers the Hippocratic Oath and lives by it, particularly on the “death by Dengvaxia” issue.
It really breaks one’s heart to read on the news about 800 thousand schoolchildren vaccinated by that experimental drug Dengvaxia dying painful deaths one by one all because of a hastily and poorly thought of program of then President Noynoy Aquino and then Health secretary Janette Garin.
And we segue to Arthur Defensor Jr. a.k.a. “Toto”. You can say that I knew him quite well but that was decades ago. The last time I saw him was almost 40 years ago and he was still in short pants, football shorts, that is. He was a midfielder on the Assumption Iloilo U-13 Football Team and Moi was the coach.
Yes, I know him that well as a 12-year-old footballer and his attitudes and skills on the pitch.
I was also his Social Studies teacher and class adviser in Grade 5, Assumption Iloilo. I’m very confident that the Assumption education and values we imparted on him became his guide growing up facing the harsh realities of this gig we call life.
Since then I never saw him nor had contact as an adult except from what I read on the newspapers that he became a lawyer and a politician.
All this old man can do is wish his former student well… (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
..and he runs regularly, too!