BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
BACOLOD CITY’s Mayor Albee Benitez publicly announced that he is leaving ex-president Digong Duterte’s Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP) soonest.
Joining him are (kuno) 100 other Bacolod and Negros politicos.
A party “exodus”? When?
Nerve-wracking? Nope! A political “ganap” like this ain’t shocking in the Philippines anymore. It’s part and parcel of “political morphing”.
Morphing in the sense that every time the country has a new president, politicians undergo “metamorphosis”. That’s why we have “political butterflies”.They’re part of our political history, culture and heritage.
KINGMAKER
Mayor Albee, perceived to be a political kingmaker in Bacolod and Negros Occidental, jumping from party to another?
Perhaps he has to learn from the late Danding Cojuangco, founder of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) that, until now, remains a formidable political party.
Danding, after establishing NPC in 1992, ran for president. He lost to former president Fidel Ramos but neither played high jump nor long jump in politics. He just remained to be an NPC top honcho, and those who wanted to follow or join him, simply sought him.
Faith and respect in Danding and his NPC were the keys.
As for Mayor Albee, during Noynoy Aquino’s incumbency, he was with the Liberal Party (LP). When Digong took over the helm, Albee joined PDP. Now, with Bongbong Marcos, he’s (again) bound to do another jumping?
Throwback: What happened to Kilusan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP)?
In May last year, it hogged the headlines in both local and national news with Mayor Albee as party president and actor-turned-politico Leyte 4th District’s Cong. Richard Gomez as vice president for Visayas.
Tagged as an “elephant in the room” was President Bongbong Marcos.
KNP was perceived to be President Bongbong’s political vehicle. Lo and behold, the sitting president, all of a sudden, “manufactured” his own political jeep – the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP).
Lately, PFP made a blast by swearing in more “long and high jumper local politicians” from different provinces. Then it coalesced with House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s Lakas-CMD (Christian Muslim Democrats).
So, where’s Mayor Albee’s KNP now?
If he wants to be like Danding, Mayor Albee must pursue the registration of his KNP at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
Then, let the politicos – national and local in scope – join like what happened to Danding and his NPC.
WITH GREAT INFLUENCE
A reading from Wikipedia says that a king maker is a person or group that has great influence on a royal or political succession, without themselves being a viable candidate. Just sit down, choose a leader or leaders and make him/them win and rule.
In the case of Mayor Albee, he has a lot of work to do./PN
