The dirty tricks department

The mudslinging that accompanies politics and trails behind politicians like stringy doggy poo started early for the 2016 presidential derby. The official campaign period is months away, but in a country inundated by pungent political partisanships, anytime is a good time for venomous divisiveness. Especially under a presidency characterized by petty vindictiveness, tracking dirt makes sense. 

The vicious attacks against the Vice President, the leading challenger to the ruling party’s plan to perpetuate its rule, are par for the course.

One, the Vice President declared his intentions early. The premature opening afforded protagonists more time to conjure up slime and sciatica.

Two, mudslinging works. Let us substantiate the surmise.

The Vice President is counterparty to a grudge match where he previously won against a loser who never saw the loss of the vice-presidential contest, coming focused as he was on a different protagonist at the time.

The strongest challenge had, in 2010, come from the Nacionalista Party (NP). Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. (NP) was on the blunt end of a demolition job where he was accused of padding roadwork budgets to enhance his personal businesses. Never mind that these charges never made their way to a proper court, where they should rightfully be heard.

His running mate, Sen. Loren Legarda, vied for the second-highest post challenging the Liberal Party (LP) candidate. As immediate as her announcement was, vicious email blasts and texts circulated under a multimillion-peso demolition job to ridicule her.

Three, the Vice President, a skilled administrator, represents the diametric antithesis of a bungling dispensation that would perpetuate a plunderous agenda founded on patronage politics nourished by pork barrels and the certifiably criminal Disbursement Acceleration Program—the signature patronage and fund-fleecing program of the ruling party, of which its standard-bearer is a direct beneficiary.

Curiously, however, the crosshairs now shift to a possible third candidate.

Even as a potential presidential protagonist is being courted by the ruling party to boost the faked images of its nag and, most important, to remove from the equation the most likely to steal away precious votes, given finite partisan pie slices, a familiar carrot-and-stick publicity offensive is currently in play.

Whose hand pulls the strings? Who stands to gain the most should Grace Poe-Llamanzares be cowed by the vicious mudslinging and classic multimillion-peso demolition jobs being waged against her running for the presidency outside the kennel of the LP?

Some assume the worst from the political opposition. Never mind that such assumptions do not make an iota of sense. Hate, fear of prison terms and canine loyalty can be blinding, and the continuing barrage from another demolition job can create subservient Pavlovian mongrels out of the weakest minds.

In a three-way contest where the ruling-party candidate constantly comes in last, the two frontrunners take from the pathetic tail-ender and the easiest way out from the latter’s predicament is to court one candidate out of competing by employing Philippine-style sweet nothings, subterfuge and slime.

Let us return to the arithmetic of 2016. If Llamanzares runs as a presidential candidate, she would be a bigger threat to the ruling party, as she is likely to wean away votes from that camp and not from others. Hence, who would cow her into safely seeking the warmth, albeit suffocating confines, of their sweating armpits?

Addressing her suspicions, Llamanzares said: “…whenever we discuss, we talk straight. But you know, at the end of the day, if you’re a candidate, your leadership quality can be measured by how well you can control your supporters.”

Here the allegory of politicians trailing dirt and doggy poo graphically illustrates the desperation of losers. Obviously, Llamanzares knows who is lying. She is not new to political duplicity and double-bladed wooing. How can she forget the forked-tongue trapos who maligned the good name and reputation of her father?