Espino Urges: Challenge the De Venecias, Arenases

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Last Holiday, one of the political kibitzers and my regular blog reader in the province visited me at home and reacted to my previous column I'm Retired in Politics in 2019

HEAVYWEIGHT - Former Five-Time House Speaker Joe de Venecia (left) and Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Chairman Rachel Arenas. Photo Credit: Alchetron

where I opined that former Fifth District Representative Kimi Cojuangco would not seek reelection but her husband Former Congressman Mark challenges again Pangasinan Governor Amado I. Espino III in a very expensive 2019 election.

“My source told me Danding feeling bad about what happened to his son would bankroll his candidacy,” I quipped as I extended to him the plate full of Kinilaw na Tuna (Raw  Yellow Fin Tuna) marinated in vinegar and kalamansi with raw strips of radish, cucumber, onions, ginger, bell and native peppers, whatchamacallit I made, Davao City style, after he quaffed his negative 8 Celsius or  zero cold bottle of Red Horse.

I told him that even Cojuangco can still be defeated by the young Espino, it would be Pyrrhic victory.

“You know what Pyrrhic is?

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“It’s a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is equivalent to defeat. One could be victorious but the heavy toll negates a true sense of achievement,“ he retorted.

“Ya, it was about  King Pyrrhus of Epirus  whose army was tragically damaged in defeating the Romans at the Battles of Heraclea and the Asculum hundreds of years ago,” according to the pambalot ng tinapa I accidentally read,” I said.

QUINTESSENTIAL POLITICIAN - Pangasinan

 Fifth District Representative Amado T. Espino, Jr.

Susmariosep, who was that U.S president who quipped after he won his Pyrrhic reelection? "Another victory like this and our money's gone!"

It would be Pyrrhic because unlike the limited wherewithal of Mark in the 2016 “battle”, this coming election would be financially very heavy because the Espinos would be spending too as Danding poured his monies for his son.

Danding Cojuangco is the Chairman of the largest food and beverage corporation in the Philippines San Miguel Corporation.

            WIN-WIN SOLUTION

My friend told me he got not only a formula but a “Solomonic” Solution to avoid this “Down-in-the Trenches” War where both families reconciled and relished just like the old days when they regularly broke breads.

“They talk with each other. Espino would tell Mark, he can run unopposed in the Fifth District and becomes a congressman again with a turf to boot in that Eastern Part while Pogi (the present governor) retains the governorship,” he cited.

He added that both families saved their billions of pesos that they would be spending for the election hungry, vulnerable, and susceptible to you-know-what electorates of the land of Andres Malong and Juan dela Cruz Palaris.

 “Where would (5^th District) Congressman (Amado, Jr) Espino run for office? Urdaneta City, Bayambang, or even Alaminos City is too small for his stature comes the day of reckoning in 2019?,” I posed.

He said the solon can make a rampage just like what he did to Kimi Cojuangco by “bludgeoning” her in that mind numbing 133,381 votes  versus Kimi’s 92,943 in the last election in the “vaunted” turf of the Cojuangcos in Eastern Pangasinan.

“He can either run in the Third (Congressional) District or Fourth District”.

I told him that it is an easy win if he runs in the Third versus former Congresswoman Rachel Arenas or her Mother Rosemarie “Baby” Arenas because the Arenases, according to TV Host Jesse Perez, are not real Pangasinenses but Makati City residents.

“And Espine (the endearment for the solon) is dyed-in-wool Pangasinense who naturally speak the vernacular,” I said.

“No, Espino can easily beat any of the de Venecias like former Speaker Joe, former Congresswoman Manay Gina, or incumbent Congressman Toff,” he disagreed.

I told him that San Fabian Mayor Danny Agbayani was egged by Congressman Espino to challenge the perennial hegemony of the De Venecias in the four towns one city’s Central Pangasinan District but Danny declined profusely.

“I could not fight the De Venecias because they are, like you, my parents,” the undisputed two terms Mayor of the coastal town told his other patron Espino.

When I asked my guest last holiday if aside from Espino, who are the viable candidates to make a decent fight with the de Venecias, he told me it is either Celia Lim (wife of Dagupan City Mayor Benjie Lim) or her son Brian – the latter the present vice mayor of Dagupan City.

“But it would be Espino that would be a shoo-in in case he runs for the 4^th District,” he cited.

“It would not be an easy task, the de Venecias have hundreds of millions of pesos to spend in a “take-no-prisoner” war and the district that has been their citadel for decades,” I argued.

“Their fortress is only Dagupan City, almost all the mayors in the four towns and the voters there are pro-Espinos and you can just look at the 2016 election. What more now that the Espinos are perceived as politically invincible and everything they touch, just like the Phrygian King Midas, turned into gold,” he cited how opponents in the gubernatorial races of the almost 3 million populated province like spouses Victor and Jamie Agbayani, Hernani Braganza, and Marcos Cojuangco crumbled like deck of cards against the Espinos’ political juggernaut.

He then concluded by citing how astute was Congressman Espino in flushing out the Cojuangcos by even pirating some of the pro-Cojuangco mayors there in that 2016 congressional race.

“Kung may tataas pa sa Doctorate Degree sa political adroitness, ano si Amado Espino, Jr” he posed to me.

“Quintessential Politician,” I replied.

“Petmalu Lodi (slang of Idol Malupit)! Pero ano iyong Quintessential, sir?” Galman, my unlettered errand boy who was silently imbibing his beer, posed.

“P*nyeta, wag ka maki alam sa usapan ng matatalino. Ito pera galing sa mga Americano bumili ka pa ng Red Horse sa 7-11 at Quintessential - sabihin mo iyong pampulutan na nilalagay sa Kilaw na Tuna ng Davao City," I barked at him.

PHOTO BELOW IS MY ERRAND BOY GALMAN WHO WAS CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT IS A "QUINTESSENTIAL POLITICIAN".

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