Pres. BongBong Marcos, Jr. made screaming headlines, in print and broadcast outlets that had been cozy with his administration, when he announced that he will rollout ₱20/kilo rice. He prided himself with the feat saying it is the fulfillment of his election promise.
The act of mercy however is quite absurd given the fact that the prevailing price of rice is almost three times than what he will distribute in Cebu. Which means therefore that it is subsidized and the burden will still be shouldered by the consumers.
Last Wednesday, Senator Imee, the estranged sister President Marcos, lambasted the sale of rice in Cebu at the height of election period and called the attention of the Commission on Elections warning that it partakes of irregularity and contravenes election rules and regulations.
Well, what do you know? The following day COMELEC stopped the sale of one-kilo bag rice with the smiling photo of PBBM printed on it. And quickly the propagandists had the picture of Sec. Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. under the headline: “DA temporarily halts P20/kg rice”. The promise failed and expectedly ended for starting it in a highly dubious agenda.
Earlier VP Sara branded the subsidized sale of rice in Cebu as a scam. For saying that she earned a rebuke from a troll of critics. Unfazed, she declared that the objective why Cebu is the only beneficiary of ₱20/klg bag is that the province has a voting population of 4.7-million! Gov. Gwen Garcia has lost her grip of the Cebuano electorates who loudly denounced the kidnapping of fellow Cebuano, the former President Rodrigo Duterte. Pam Baricuatro, the PDP bet for Cebu governor is out to unseat Gwen.
When it rains it pours. While the administration-backed Alyansa senate slate and Governor Gwen Garcia are losing in Cebu the COMELEC stopped the distribution of subsidized rice. As if those are not enough Gwen was slapped with a six-month suspension by the Ombudsman. Defying the orders of the Ombudsman she bravely announced Friday that she will not step down.
With a few days left on the scheduled May 12 election Marcos and Romualdez backed Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas has virtually crumbled and each candidate is to his or her own resources. Senators Imee, Bong Revilla, Ping Lacson and Ben Hur Abalos have each waged their own campaign. Camille Villar had cut the thin thread that binds the Villar family with PBBM and declared her support for VP Sara Duterte. For having done that Malacanang ordered the investigation of Prime Water, a Villar-owned water utility company.
That’s political vendetta any which way you look at it which has no place in governance. But then… that will neither shake nor rattle the Villars.
