By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
No decent, self-respecting person seemed amused by last Sunday’s all-nonsense joint press conference of presidential aspirants Sen. Ping Lacson, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and former defense chief Norberto Gonzales.
To recap, they stirred media anticipation to a feverish pitch on Saturday about their coming together at noon of Easter Sunday to make an important joint statement on the upcoming elections and “the future of Filipinos.”
But all the hype, as it turned out, was not about our future as a nation or a game-changer for the May 9 elections. The three applicants for president just came out together for a public reaffirmation of their egos, saying they would forge on with their candidacies with whatever shred of hopelessness their declining poll numbers hold.
It’s like the 3 Stooges resurrected to tell you a dead joke. What’s not funny is that it was the Day of the Resurrection, the holiest feast in the Catholic calendar that families celebrate together. And instead, this laughable trio tries to steal some thunder from such a solemn occasion.
Perhaps, only the media desks on duty appreciated such a dumb coverage on a slow news day. But not the ones who actually chased the coverage – the reporters, the photographers, and the camera crew who were scammed for a story that was never there in the first place.
Even labor leader and presidential bet “Ka Leody” de Guzman had more class eating at a karinderya with running mate Walden Bello in an Easter meme that said: “Hindi kami aatras sa halo-halo,” than the stunt pulled off by Ping, Isko, and Gonzales.
Perhaps, even Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who did not sign their joint “no retreat” statement, also wisened up by not attending the press con with the excuse that he was entangled in General Santos City. Nevertheless, he’s part of that manifesto which also called for the withdrawal of Vice President Leni Robredo’s candidacy.
The pretext of this call, according to these four statistically impossible runners, is that Robredo does not have a fighting chance against former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. For the record, it was only Leni whose pre-election survey ratings actually leaped forward by nine points.
How can the cellar dwellers whose numbers have either made two steps backward or stayed the same in their single digits have a better, logical, or statistical chance to catch up with BBM’s numbers if the VP took that “ultimate sacrifice” of leaving the race?
Such crab mentality.
If the intention of Pacquiao, Domagoso, Lacson, and Gonzales was to run Robredo off the road to avoid a Marcos presidency, I think these four men might have just rocked their own boats and ended up shedding the last of their shaky votes over to the side of the lady in pink.
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