Knowing Pepsi through Coke

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER

Coca Cola may be a reliable source of information but you may only get a biased, if not polluted, one if you relied solely on it to know about Pepsi, and vice versa. The reason is obvious: both are rivals in soft drink trade which, as a matter of course, requires that whatever tidbits one dishes about the other must be scrutinized or counter-checked.

That reminds me of a political caucus, by “Team TME” afternoon of March 5, at South San Jose, Molo, Iloilo City. The name that hugged its center stage was Rommel Ynion but not by  his choice.

TME stands for the administration bigwigs of Iloilo City – Rep. Jerry Trenas, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, and Vice Mayor Joe Espinosa III, all running for reelection under the ruling LP umbrella.

Ynion, a political neophyte, might not imagine mud being slung at him by the dramatis personae of the caucus who took turns lambasting him for “defrauding people.”

Trenas, Mabilog and their host Kap Ising Espinosa, chorus that Ynion who aims to unseat Mayor Mabilog, has been duping people by posturing as civic minded. Stated otherwise, his acts of social concern are lies.

The trio narrow down the supposed deceptive ploy of Ynion into pretension to riches. The loaf bread and rice he has been distributing to barangays are rancid; his promises are empty; and his medical missions that include free medicines and bread are funded by loans he will never repay. 

The trio add that the medicines and medical kits like nebulizer that Ynion distributes to barangays are procured on credit from “Congressman Biron” who is now in trouble himself because Ynion cannot repay him. “So beware,” the three warn the crowd or words to that effect, “that if Ynion failed to pay for the medicines and nebulizers, Biron might repossess them from you and you will be left holding an empty bag.”

“Congressman Biron” refers to Rep. Ferjenil Biron (Iloilo, 4^th district) who is gunning for governor of Iloilo. He own a multi-billion peso business selling medicines and hospital supplies like nebulizers.

Ynion is not around to answer back though. This is a political season where  politicians conveniently resort to mudslinging as Trenas, Mabilog and Kap Ising do, instead of engaging in rational and enlightening discourses.

Ynion’s media consultants can answer tit-for-tat but are not prone to go defensive like answering barbs from adversaries when his camp is used to taking the offensive strategy: initiating issues to pin down Trenas and Mabilog on cases of corruption and mal-governance.

The logic of not relying on Coke to know about Pepsi applies here. You want information on Ynion, pick it from other sources, not Mabilog and company.

The best persons to know if Ynion indeed has duped anybody is go to the victims themselves. So far, none of the supposed victims who received stale bread and rice have stepped forward to confirm what Trenas and company trumpet around. The constituents of Kap Ising who have availed of the medical missions and gone home lugging free medicines and bread, have not complained of that, not one of them.

And another supposed victim, Biron, who has allegedly lost millions in unpaid nebulizers and medicines, has not even bother to squeak when he has at his disposal an army of spin doctors ready to thunder.

Here is an instance of one pointing an accusing finger on another forgetting that his other three fingers train back at him.