Belated happy 20th Araws to BE Dujali town in Davao del Norte and to Comval last March 8. Both occasions were graced by Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte. It was on that day that- to the dismay of those who want House Speaker Bebot Alvarez destroyed- we knew the cannon of Mayor Inday fell silent, drawing out speculations that maybe the Mayor and the Speaker have reconciled for good, or that maybe President Duterte have mended their differences.
But I believe more on the report that the President chose not to intervene in their now so shortlived feud. And with that suspended stance, the two understood PDigong’s dilemma, then both gave deference to him. The two- without doubt- are loved by PDigong. Inday Sara is his daughter. We’ll stop here about Sara. That’s too understandable.
We’ll delve more on Speaker Bebot. The Speaker is PDigong’s most trusted and most loyal ally in the House (correct ka dyan Palace spokesperson Harry Roque). I did a little online research, and I found out that the Speaker and the President are magkumpare. PDigong is ninong of one of the children of the Speaker.
It was Alvarez, during his first stint in Congress who started pushing then Congressman Digong to run for president way back in 1998. “Dagan ‘pre ug presidente ug klaro ka nga modaug”, “Ayaw gud ug kumedya diha pre, pangita ug lain nga imong ulog-ulogan”- conversations I imagined when they were both serving as congressmen. Eighteen years after, the words of Cong.Alvarez proved to be prophetic.
But we knew too much about the Mayor Digong too reluctant to run for president. But Alvarez distributed t-shirts crying out loud for Duterte to run for president. He did all his convincing, and maneuvering via PDP-Laban, with Sen. Koko Pimentel, to substitute Martin Diño as candidate for president after Digong filed his certificate of candidacy for mayor in Davao City in Oct. 2015. But by December of the same year Digong officially substituted Diño as candidate for president. Alvarez was then described as the man who convinced Duterte to run for president.
It was the Speaker who best described who PDigong is: “a toughie who has a soft core.” Upclose the Speaker saw Mayor Digong sobbing: first after a visit from a cancer patient, then when candidate Digong saw the size of the rapturous crowd at a campaign rally in the 2016 election.
After Digong won to be our 16th President, the two buddies went on adventure trips together, like they flew an ultralight two-seater plane over Pampanga. “(It was) like riding a motorcycle in the air,” Alvarez recalled. Alvarez knows his buddy “doesn’t drink or smoke” but “he loves to talk. We talk about so many things… women, light moments… girlfriends.” Bebot also said to the press that Digong’s favorite dish is “inun-onan”, adding that on their trip to Australia before the campaign period, they spent time just “walking around, eating.”
From all of these we can confidently say that Alvarez has been Digong’s trusted buddy and confidante.
But back to Roque’s description of the Speaker as the most trusted and most loyal ally in the House, the man who convinced Rody to run for president is still the House Speaker trusted by majority of congressmen who have varying vested interests. DavNor’s Uno Cong. Bebot was elected Speaker by 86 percent, or 251 of the 292 members of the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress. That was and is a supermajority. He made PDP-Laban as the nation’s ruling party comprised of 123 incumbent congressmen now from 3 members, and thousands of incumbent local officials via the fast train of PDP-Laban mass oathtaking.
But how he does traffic all of these varying and even conflicting vested interests of congressmen, to crack a whip to realize the president’s campaign promises, legislative agenda and even wishes? He could even call, urge and prod the upper chamber. No doubt about this: the Speaker has strong, knowledgeable, unifying and confident leadership that dovetails and connects with, nicely fitting to the tough and strong-willed leadership of PDigong.
The Speaker is no pushover. No other leader in the House who knows and understands PDigong’s gusto, wishes, body movements and projections and zest in life than a Mindanaon and Bisaya-speaking, a rugged, who at times fumes mad at the oligarchs, understands and hobnobs with the lumpen proletariat, a non-elitist just like PDigong- than the Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez.
That’s why guys the canon of Mayor Inday fell silent these days to the great dismay of those who want the Speaker destroyed so that they’ll be saved and their current heat taken off from them. So sorry to Gov. AGR and Cong. Tony Boy.
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from Mindanao Sun Chronicle weekly, March 8-14, 2018
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