Veteran columnist on Bam's rumored attempt to join Mayor Sara's group:" is he so desperate for reelection?"

Has Bam really turned?

Many might have already heard about the latest move from one of the Aquino’s clan, no other than Senator Paolo “Bam” Benigno Aquino, who reportedly wants to join the “Hugpong Pagbabago” – Mayor Inday Sara’s regional political group.

The rumor was also supported by Senator JV. Ejercito’s claim, citing that Bam tried to enter the administrations group but Mayor Inday denied the report, while Bam’s camp remained silent about it.

Speaking of reactions, comments and opinion, here’s the highlight of a veteran columnist like Mr. Jojo Robles has to say;

“On social media, the reaction was mostly hostile from the pro-Duterte crowd. Why should Mayor Duterte’s party support the only remaining member of the Aquino clan holding national office, one common response goes, when Bam actually represents all that President Rodrigo Duterte is trying to fix?

Even Aquino’s insistence on playing up his physical resemblance to his late uncle, the assassinated opposition leader and former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., has been cited as enough reason for not including him in the mayor’s party. Besides, most online supporters said, Aquino’s motives are so obviously mercenary that he cannot ever be expected to adopt the Duterte mantra of change – unless it means changing back to the old, discredited Yellow politics of his family.

Me, I have only two questions for Bam: First, will he lose the Ninoy glasses once he joins Hugpong? And second, is he so desperate for reelection that he will turn his back on the whole political ideology that got him this far up the totem pole?

Understand, I am no political purist who can still be shocked by the lack of moral scruples of anyone who seeks public office. If Bam Aquino joins Inday Sara, he will not be the first politician to shift party allegiance in the name of political survival; nor will he be the last practitioner of this questionable but often effective strategy, especially since the 2019 mid-term elections are just around the corner.

But I guess I just expected someone like Bam, whose politics are supposed to be infused with the “disente” ethic of his Liberal Party, would even consider joining the “evil” Duterte administration – or at least its Davao-based heiress-apparent. Then again, perhaps Bam (who has no qualms about proposing that restaurant leftovers be distributed to the poor or about falsely claiming credit for the Duterte free college education program) would go this low.

Of course, I’m assuming that most members of the Liberal Party to which Bam also belongs, are principled. They’re not, which is why they’re now no longer with the party, either, but already with Duterte’s PDP-Laban.

If Bam is late to the turncoat party, it’s only because he probably had to convince his family that he wasn’t really sacrificing whatever principles he may have. Maybe he told them that, in the same manner that he impersonated Ninoy to get to the Senate, he’s just pretending to be with Inday Sara to remain in the chamber.

Bam, after all, has a proven track record in cosplaying. I’m sure he’ll be making a Duterte fist sign like he was Davao-born and -raised, once he sets his mind to it.

As for the group of six reelectionist senators, including Ejercito and Aquino, who are supposedly in talks with Mayor Duterte for adoption by her Hugpong, I wish them luck as well as they seek a safe harbor that Senate President Aquilino Pimentel 3rd will not provide them in the ruling PDP-Laban. According to Ejercito, the reason why he, Bam, Cynthia Villar, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay and Grace Poe are considering joining Hugpong is because Pimentel will not fight for their inclusion in the PDP’s Senate slate being drawn up by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for the elections next year.

Aside from Aquino, who seems like a really bad fit for Hugpong, Mayor Duterte will have to weigh each of these refugees from PDP-Laban for suitability with her group, if she is really serious about reforming the political system with a new, idealistic group. If the president’s daughter is only after winning, she won’t have such a hard time choosing; but if she wants real change, I don’t think she will take even half of the six into the fold.

In particular, I will have serious doubts about Inday Sara’s commitment to change if she adopts that political chameleon Poe. That would, to me, appear to be a concession to winnability, not reform.

But that’s just me.

Source: Manila Times