Mike is now vindicated

We don’t know if they have a prior agreement or arrangement. But Mike said that a few seconds before it happened, he asked the President if he (the latter) could raise his hand. The President agreed.

So, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte raised the hand of former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama and endorsed him as vice mayoralty candidate in the May elections together with mayoral candidate Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella during the administration’s Barug PDP Laban rally held at the Plaza Independencia last Sunday night. Is Mike already cleared and vindicated from his drug protector image?

In 2016, upon the assumption of Duterte, he named Rama as a drug protector. Rama denied the allegations. It was a triple whammy for Mike because he just lost in the 2016 elections in the mayoralty race against the “former political has-been” and was preventively suspended by the Office of the President through the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the unauthorized release of calamity assistance to City Hall officials and employees after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda hit the region.

Rama was included in the Duterte list of narcopoliticians maybe because of his “association” with the late known drug lord Tata Negro, who used to play basketball with him when he was the mayor. In one instance, Rama also intervened in the arrest of Negro by the police. Besides, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 officials who provided the list and information to Duterte at that time were all identified by Rama’s political mentor-turned nemesis. Naisahan o naigo sa pulitika si Mike.

After being tagged as a drug protector, Mike had been going around various government agencies like the police, PDEA, DILG and even religious leaders to clear his name. He sought the help of some people close to Duterte like former presidential assistant to the President Bong Go and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino to help him clear his name, to no avail. It was a misery and an extra baggage for Mike, prompting him to decide to slide down to the vice mayoralty position instead of insisting on a return bout against the “former political has-been” in this year’s elections.

But with the scenario in last Sunday’s event with the President raising the hand of Mike and endorsing him as the vice mayoral candidate, one can interpret that Rama has been vindicated and exonerated from his drug protector image—body language or action speaks for itself. Dapat pa bang sabihin yan? The allegation came from the President, and it’s only the President who can clear his name.

The President would not do it if he has no intention and decision to do it. He could be inconsistent. It was the chief executive’s sound judgment to raise the hand of Mike and Labella without the prodding and egging from somebody. He does not need to translate it in words. We don’t know if they had a prior agreement or arrangement. But Mike said that a few seconds before it happened, he asked the President if he (the latter) could raise his hand. The President agreed. Everything happened so fast and that was it.

I hope the President was not forced or obliged to raise the hand of Mike because the latter was already on stage. Like what the President did to senatorial candidate Jinggoy Estrada in Legaspi City several weeks ago. There, Duterte raised the hand of Jinggoy but the following day, he withdrew his endorsement for Estrada who is facing plunder before the Sandiganbayan.

When asked, the President admitted that he just felt obliged to raise Estrada’s hand in the event because the former senator was already there. “Nandoon na siya eh. Alang-alang naman na hindi ko siya...Even for just one single day masabihan mo ng kandidato mo 13 lahat. What is that to a friend? We know that he has suffered. We know that he was in prison,” Duterte explained.

Mao ni kuyaw ug bakwion sa umaabot nga mga adlaw. Hinaot nga dili na mahitabo. Aw, mahulog ni ug “laban o bawi.” With the vindication of Mike, their political opponent should be capitalizing on that “drug protector image” of Mike to destroy the opposition. They should stop using the term “Team Suyop.”

I decided to watch the film only after I read in the opening credits that the script was written by one of my idols, Jose “Pete” Lacaba, brother of Emmanuel Lacaba, who was slain while fighting the Marcos dictatorship during the martial law years.