As we watch and enjoy the ongoing war between House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, let us make sure that we are clear that this is a “battle of the snakes” (with apologies to the snake) as one Facebooker said.
Sara, the pretty and feisty daughter of the President has been scoring against the uncouth and ugly Alvarez.
The public should be reminded that Duterte-Carpio is a co-depositor of her father in at least two bank accounts:
Account No. 0200131000000003103367386 in BPI Greenhills-EDSA and Account No. ST0200124300000002433069539 in the bank’s Julia Vargas branch based on the documents that VERA Files obtained from the Office of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. The Office of the Ombudsman has said that the figures in Trillanes documents “are more or less the same” with those that are in the bank documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council which the Duterte-appointed AMLC executive director denied having sent Ombudsman.
The money in the two BPI accounts were not accurately declared Duterte-Carpio 2013 and 2014 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth, which is requirement by the law.
Duterte-Carpio has evaded the undeclared wealth issue dismissing the Trillanes’ expose as “rumormongering.”
In a statement to VERA Files that published an analysis of the Duterte bank records in January, Duterte-Carpio said:
“So that we could all verify the truthfulness of Trillanes’ accusations, we are all waiting for Trillanes to produce his source and put the witness under oath to testify on his/her/their claims about the bank accounts. Anything less than this, what Trillanes is doing is just rumor mongering while hiding behind his parliamentary immunity.”
Inquirer columnist Antonio J. Montalván II correctly noted that “Basically, it’s (Sara-Alvarez fight) only a feud between dynasts. And Sara doesn’t herself come out a saint here. Same same.”
Political observer Bernard Ong made this annotation of the Sara-Alvarez clash in his Facebook post:
“Sara Duterte described Speaker Alvarez in colorful terms: Kapal-mukha. Insecure slob. Fat Sleaze. Asshole.
“She called for his removal as Speaker.
“Alvarez is in a quandary. Respond meekly and trapo / macho peers kiss him goodbye. Respond forcefully and Sara will bring him down – with or without Daddy.
“How did they get here?
“In reverse chronological order:
• Alvarez described Sara’s Hugpong party as ‘opposition’.
• Sandigan issued arrest warrant vs Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.
• Floirendo & his allies affiliate with Hugpong.
• Alvarez wife reported to run in 2019 against him, with Floirendo backing.
• Sara formed Hugpong with 4 Region XI governors.
• Floirendo allies declared Alvarez persona non grata in Tagum.
• Alvarez filed graft case vs Floirendo over the Tadeco-govt sweetheart land deal
• PDP-Laban expelled Floirendo for disloyalty
• Girlfriends of Alvarez and Floirendo had an altercation during Maskarra festival in Bacolod.
“So this essentially started as Battle of the Mistresses.
“The knives are out. Hopefully we see the secret beans and buried skeletons next.”
Journalist Philip Lustre reminds us that the “The Sara-Pantalon clash is a great spectacle to watch. But it’s little use to the people. Let them slash each other’s throat.
The bigger issue that the people should not be diverted from is the desecration of democracy by President Duterte.
a house divided by itself cannot stand, angdyan yan sa bible. and we are maybe slow to see the significance of what is happening right in front of our eyes. the pharisees did not believe jesus christ was the son of god maybe because he was born in the manger and swaddled only in rags, not clothed in expensive looms and adoned with jewelries!
likewise, what is happening before us with sara and panty nagpataasan ng ihi could be the breach in the wall, the small leak in the dike, an opportunity that when harnessed correctly could be . . . got my meaning?
I think po, we should not put all our eggs in one basket and concentrate mostly in the desecration of democracy by the president. we should also be quick to see what else are there in the peripheries and mobilize. big things may come from small packages.