“WHO would have thought I would be here this morning?”
This was the question that Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda asked the moment she was on stage for her inaugural speech at the Iloilo Convention Center on a Friday morning (June 28, 2019).
There she was, the first congresswoman of Iloilo City; her predecessors had been all male.
Together with the newly elected mayor, Jerry P. Treñas, and the Sangguniang Panlungsod members, she would take oath before Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza.
Indeed, she could not have won that “destiny” on May 13, 2019 had a confluence of events not intervened.
She had not expected the outgoing congressman, Jerry P. Treñas, to run for mayor and groom her as his successor at the House of Representatives. His natural inclination would have been to pick the outgoing mayor, Jose Espinosa III, who had always been a political ally. The two are also brothers-in-law or magbilas in local parlance.
Moreover, Joe owes Jerry his political success. When Joe ran for vice mayor in 2001, he lost to Victor Facultad. Jerry, who won for mayor, appointed Joe city legal officer in 2002.
In 2010, outgoing mayor Treñas ran for congressman while then vice mayor Jed Mabilog ran for mayor with Jam-jam Baronda as running mate for vice mayor. Jerry, however, though supportive of Mabilog, named Espinosa as his bet for vice mayor and the latter won.
In 2013, Joe ran again for vice mayor in the line-up of Jed Mabilog for mayor and Treñas for congressman. All three won.
The same triumvirate were re-elected in 2016.
However, the unexpected departure of Mayor Mabilog to an undisclosed destination pushed Espinosa to the vacated post. He became eligible to run for either mayor or congressman.
But in 2018, with Mabilog out of the picture, Espinosa opted to cross swords with Treñas against the advice of their common relatives and friends.
That gave Treñas no choice but look for whomever would be available as his congressional running mate. Two possibilities loomed – either former councilor Lex Tupas or incumbent councilor Joshua Alim.
There was a time when he tried to raise the hand of Alim in a chance meeting in a mall, but the latter resisted, only to eventually run for congressman in the political camp of “mayorable” Pacita Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, during a chance meeting at Hotel del Rio early in 2018, the late Panay News founder Danny Fajardo advised Jam-jam to seek the House post. She initially laughed it off. Although she was serving as political officer of then senator JV Ejercito, she had been away from local politics for eight years since 2010.
Then came a time when Treñas himself made the offer. She initially hesitated, wishing there was still a way the congressman and the mayor could reconcile for old times’ sake.
In September 2018, she accepted Treñas’ offer. It seemed odd that Espinosa would run against Treñas since the latter had supported the former against her in 2010.
Moreover, she felt it was no peanuts running against councilor Joshua Alim and former councilor Perla Zulueta.
An opponent’s snide against her for being a non-lawyer must have done her more good than harm. It compelled her to talk about her fitness in legislative work as chief political officer at the office of Senator Ejercito. Experience being the best teacher, she would not be a misfit in Congress.
“Life starts at 40,” so a famous maxim goes. Why not for Jam-jam? She is 40 and no neophyte in legislative work, having been Iloilo City councilor for three terms (2001 to 2010). (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
