‘The President must have
ascribed malice due
to politics, which leaves
no stone unturned in
unearthing a past of anyone getting in the way.’
NO doubt Manila Mayor Isko Moreno is paying dearly for his popular rating as one of the presidential frontrunners. Most mayors in Metro Manila, including Isko, has had their share of missteps or blunders during this virus crisis. But Manila’s immediate and continued response, along with Marikina and Pasig, is exceptional compared to the rest of the metro cities.
No less than President Duterte is throwing brickbats at Isko with months to go before the filing of candidacies. Why should the President demean Isko by calling him “na parang call boy?”
Moreno’s image in his younger days was dictated by the roles he had played in movies that he said was part of the job, and by interjecting that “there was no harm done” Isko meant that the public found nothing visually and morally objectionable with his physical exhibits.
The President must have ascribed malice due to politics, which leaves no stone unturned in unearthing a past of anyone getting in the way.
***
There was an outpouring of both tearful and joyful reminiscing on the late Kitchie Benedicto during a memorial service online last Wednesday night. She was the General Manager of Channel 2 under the Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS) owned by her father, sugar baron and former Ambassador Roberto Benedicto. Several GMA 7 and ABS-CBN executives joined the new network through her. (ABS-CBN and ABC Channel 5 were ordered closed by Marcos at the start of martial law.)
With her political power and undeniable creative influence, she became the toast of the TV celebrity world and industry bigwigs. After Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, she and her father started to lose their grip on KBS after Marcos designated her daughter, Imee, to take over the management of the huge TV and radio network.
Kitchie was generous in providing rewards, gifts and recognition to her company officers and friends. But after the EDSA Power People revolution, most of them started disappearing.
My personal regret was that I did not find it in me to reach out and help her in any way possible in the midst of the intense political attacks and uncertainties that had befallen her and her family. Their seized properties, notably Channel 9, would become milking cows for the succeeding administrations that took over. Gratitude escaped me miserably, as one of the radio and TV news personalities who found his future with her.
