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[av_heading heading=’Giving Treñas the benefit of the doubt’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
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ASKED by this paper’s Manila-based reporter Prince Golez why he would quit politics at the end of his term as Iloilo City’s congressman in 2019, Jerry P. Treñas quoted the Bible, specifically the first verse of Ecclesiastes 3: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
Since the “graduating” congressman had earlier expressed desire to move back to the City Hall as mayor, apparently even his own political leaders do not take the contrary announcement at face value. Why should a “sure winner” give up so early? So far, no other contender for the same position has advanced to be recognized.
Meanwhile, let’s analyze the above oft-quoted Bible verse. Take note that it is not without appendages that make up the succeeding verses, such as “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.” Fourteen pairs of contrasting activities are cited therein, all requiring proper timing.
Proper timing is when one laughs while seeing a comedy movie, but not while viewing a dead body in a coffin. There’s an appropriate moment for happiness, another for sadness.
Going back to the congressman’s change of heart, he could always claim that, having “planted” his seeds successfully in the political battleground, the time has come for him to reap the fruits of his labor.
Perhaps Treñas truly thinks that he has arrived at the summit of his political career, having thrived in politics for three decades – at one time or another as councilor, OIC-mayor, mayor and congressman.
Unfortunately, that presumed “final answer” to the question of why he is running away from far-away 2019 is not “kumbinsing.” Yes, he is now a senior citizen at 60, but most politicians quit only in the aftermath of physical disability, as in the case of a former city councilor who had to retire due to heart ailment.
On the contrary, he told Panay News that he has “no health problem.” Ironically, that’s no convincing argument. Good health ought to be a good reason for moving on.
On second thought, the truthfulness or falsehood of that “no health problem” would not matter anymore if Cong. Jerry is really bent on abandoning his ambition to reclaim the mayorship.
We can give him the benefit of the doubt based on his claim about other matters to focus on, such as his family, law practice, sugar farming, books and even cooking.
“Basi ma-apply ako sa Panay News as food columnist,” he told newsman Prince Golez.
Of course, there is no doubt that his family has influenced his decision “to let go.”
Still, there are doubting Thomases who link that family decision to political convenience. By not running, he would pave the way for a relative by affinity, Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III, to run for mayor. Otherwise, Joe would have a harder time to succeed the congressman, assuming that the “graduating” Mayor Mabilog would likewise run for congressman.
Councilor Joshua Alim, on vacation in Ireland, has begged to disagree via a Facebook entry calling the congressman’s announcement “a trap” for Mabilog.
However, even without Alim’s warning, Mabilog seems to have already ingested the belief that present-day ally Joe Espinosa would be his opponent for congressman in 2019.
Incidentally, what if Mabilog also announces his decision to quit in 2019 for his family’s sake? Would that also be a “trap” for Treñas and Espinosa?
It’s too early to speculate. No one can behold how politics would unfold in 2019, given the possibility of a change in the political system – from presidential to federal – to be engendered by Congress convening as Constituent Assembly./PN
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