‘Iyo ang Tondo, kanya ang Cavite’
It’s the style of traditional politicians. They choose between the registered voters and those who are not. Since they live there now, it’s better that they register in the municipality where they reside so that they can junk that fool in the elections.
It would have made for an interesting sequel to Fernando Poe Jr. and Ramon Revila Sr.’s 1986 film of that title, only that the squabble between Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso no longer reflects the movie’s violent plot but lives it.
Their bickering rooted from the devastation brought by the Covid-19 pandemic on their constituents, but a number of Moreno’s people no longer live in Manila but in Cavite. These were the former informal settlers from the Capital City who relocated to Naic, Cavite in 2019 through the National Housing Authority — 1,092 families in total. The majority of them remained registered voters of Manila.
It’s at this juncture amid the pandemic that Moreno had expressed his frustration over what he felt was an apparent snub of his constituents by Naic Mayor Jun
Dualan.
He alleged that the local government unit had left them out of the list of recipients of assistance when Manila and Cavite were declared under the enhanced community quarantine — the strictest of health protocols amid the spike in the number of Covid 19 on the days bridging March and April.
Moreno used his city’s formula of providing assistance to anyone whether or not the recipient is a registered Manila voter.
“It’s the style of traditional politicians. They choose between the registered voters and those who are not. Since they live there now, it’s better they register in the municipality where they reside so that they can junk that fool in the elections,” Moreno said in calling out Dualan.
‘Twas at this point when Remulla took the cudgels for one of his mayors.
The Cavite governor used his social media account to declare Moreno as a persona non grata, meaning Moreno is undesirable and rejected in Cavite, a major part of the Calabarzon (with Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) that was the richest source of votes in the 2019 national elections.
Calabarzon had 8,674,351 voters or 14 percent of the total national share of voters that year.
Remulla apparently knows this and quickly reminded Moreno of his chances without the Caviteños’ support should he bid for the presidency in 2022.
He used American Psychotherapist Eric Maisel’s quote: “Ambition is vital but dangerous; it is a keen motive and a driving force, but over what edge can it drive the artist?” to drive his point.
Remulla compared Manila’s numbers with Naic’s to highlight the numerous disparities, among them the annual budget the two LGU receive (Manila, P20B; Naic, P380M); and their per capita budget (Manila, P1.523B; Naic, just around P116 million).
Remulla also reminded Moreno that the children of these families were enrolled in schools and universities funded by the province, and that they receive the basic services from Cavite since their transfer.
Then he took at dig at Moreno’s alleged plan of seeking the highest office in the next elections.
“Yorme (mayor), everybody knows that you want to become president. Anyone can dream, but don’t step on others’ shoulders so that you’ll rise. You’re not yet the president, yet you are so arrogant,” Remulla stated.
Moreno kept his silence over the matter on Friday and begged off from replying to media queries.
Remulla, however, still had the last words, saying: “If you want to be famous, you need not step on us Caviteños. We are not going to retreat (from this issue)”.