By: Harvey S. Keh
Since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001 through
EDSA Dos many of her critics and former supporters that have lost
trust in her leadership have tried their best to dislodge her from
her position whether through the impeachment, rallies and other means
but none has hit her and her administration as hard as her fellow
Kabalen, Pampanga Priest turned Governor Eddie "Among Ed"
Panlilio. So far, let us look at what has transpired between them
since 2007:
Round 1: The 2007 Local Elections in Pampanga
Just when Arroyo thought that the Gubernatorial race in her home
province will be a toss-up between two of her closest allies, civil
society and church leaders in Pampanga decide to band together and
field Among Ed as a reform candidate. If you will recall, Among Ed
only decided to run for Governor less than a week before the deadline
of the filing of candidacy and yet despite having no political machineries
or financial resources to start with, he was able to defeat Mark Lapid
and Lilia Pineda in one of the biggest upsets in Philippine Electoral
History. The will of the people of Pampanga for Good Governance and
Genuine Change overcame traditional politics of guns, goons and gold.
This victory was even more extraordinary for Among Ed since he was
able to defeat Pineda who is the wife of alleged jueteng lord of the
Philippines and known Arroyo supporter, Bong Pineda.
Winner by Unanimous Decision: Panlilio for beating the political
dynasties that are backed by Arroyo in Pampanga.
Round 2: Revelation of P 500,000 Bribe Money
A few months into his being elected as Governor, Among Ed was invited
to a meeting of Governors in Malacanang and after the said meeting,
a brown envelope containing bundles of cash were given to his then
chief-of-staff. On their way back to Pampanga, Among Ed discovers
that the brown envelope contained cash amounting to P 500,000. Not
knowing where it came from, he keeps the money in a safe place. When
rumors came out that money was being handed out in Malacanang, Among
Ed was the first one to reveal on national media that he received
money as well. At a time where many local government leaders and congressmen
were mum about this, Among Ed had the courage to tell the Truth and
expose this alleged pay-off/bribe. Among Ed showed that he was not
afraid to stand up to the values and principles that he believed in
even if it meant incurring the ire of the President and her cohorts.
Winner by Knock-Out: Panlilio for upholding the values of truth and
integrity while showing the Filipino people that not every politician
is for sale and can be bought by the Arroyo administration.
Round 3: The Recall Petition
Less than 2 years into his duly mandated 3 year term as governor
of Pampanga, a group led by the former campaign manager of Lilia Pineda
organized a recall petition to have him removed from his position.
Reliable sources have alleged that it was Presidential Son and Pampanga
Congressman Mikey Arroyo who perpetuated this recall move even going
to the extent of giving money to many mayors of the province in exchange
for their support in gathering the necessary number of signatures
needed to recall Among Ed. Aside from this, one of the people who
is also supporting the recall move is known Arroyo supporter and former
Bulacan Congressman Willie Villarama. How can one even deny that Malacanang
has nothing to do with this? Although they were able to get the required
number of signatures for the recall, the COMELEC has said that it
does not have enough funds to conduct the recall election but if there's
a will there's a way thus recently, the House of Representatives allocated
an additional budget of P 50 million for the recall elections. In
this time of crisis and rising poverty in our country, our government
will allot P 50 million just to be able to get back at someone who
has consistently exposed their unjust and corrupt practices. The P
50 million can easily be used to provide scholarships to poor but
deserving students or help provide medical insurance to many families
but they would rather use it for their own political agenda. The good
news is… time is running out on them, if they are not able to
conduct a recall election in Pampanga by April this year, they will
just have to accept that Among Ed will be able to finish his first
term until 2010.
Winner by Split Decision: Panlilio for showing his will and character
despite strong opposition thus, being able to weather this political
storm for the past 8 months.
Round 4: The Jueteng War
When Panlilio first came to power in July 2007, one the first things
that he committed to do was to eradicate jueteng and bring an end
to Pampanga's reputation of being the "Vatican of Jueteng".
One of the hallmark events that he did to emphasize this was when
he filed a case at the Ombudsman against Bong Pineda for his involvement
in jueteng operations all over the country. Since then he has had
a hard time due to the fact that his Police Director has been very
uncooperative and unsupportive of his drive to clean up illegal gambling
in his province. Being the Governor, he has the legal right and authority
to choose his Police Director but apparently DILG Secretary Ronnie
Puno and the leadership of the PNP have chosen not to honor this and
has always bypassed him in the assigning of Pampanga's Police Director.
This has been going on already for the past year and Among Ed has
time and again written to Puno and the PNP Chief but all of this has
fallen on deaf ears. Last Monday, Among Ed finally said enough is
enough and called for a press conference to denounce these acts by
Puno and the PNP. Moreover, Panlilio reiterated that he is fully committed
to eradicating jueteng and that one of the reasons why he cannot have
a good Police Director is because the Arroyo administration continues
to condone jueteng operations in the province. Whereas many other
government leaders in our country would just toe the line and bow
to the wishes of this government just to be able to get funds and
projects, Among Ed stood his ground and showed the courage to clash
with them head-on. Today, the PNP bowed down to his demands and finally
relieved his police director. Let us hope that the new one will be
more supportive to Among Ed's plans to finally putting an end to jueteng
in the province.
Winner: No winner yet until we see whether or not the new Police
Director will cooperate with Among Ed on his drive against illegal
gambling.
The political battle between Panlilio and Arroyo just continues to
heat up as we near the 2010 National Elections. The final showdown
may yet be for a coveted National Position in 2010 should Panlilio
decide to throw his hat into national politics. So far, Panlilio has
shown that if there is anyone who can consisitently stand-up to the
shenanigans of this administration, he can do it. He has consistently
shown that he will not easily give-up his fight for good governance
and ethical leadership in the face of the trials and difficulties
he has faced. In the last 4 rounds, the Arroyo-administration hasn't
won a single battle against him and to even add insult to injury,
President Arroyo was even the one who awarded Panlilio as one of this
year's 10 Gawad Galing Pook Awardees for Outstanding Local Government
Units (the picture was even placed in the front page of the Philippine
Daily Inquirer).
Among Ed Panlilio has shown us that not everything is bad in our
government leaders, there are still leaders we can look up to as symbols
of Change and that ultimately, good will always prevail over evil.