I THOUGHT it would not happen. Long hearing one contender speaking of a “high level campaign” to win the votes. His rival on the other hand long known as much for his private quietness as for his private silence.
The word war – in print, at least – is now out in the open between challenger Yeng Guiao and comebacking Blueboy Nepomuceno for the first congressional district seat of Pampanga.
Yeng drew first blood in calling Blueboy a “non-performer” thus:
“Mas alam po ninyo siguro kung ano ang naging performance ng ating katunggali noong congressman siya ng primera distrito. Walang nangyari sa conversion ng Pampanga Agricultural College (into a state university), napag-iwanan ang Clark at hindi naging authority, walang sapat na trabaho, nawalan ng boses ang distrito at walang naging pagbabago…
“Paano naman po ang ating mga kababayan sa bahaging ito ng primera distrito? Kung ang Angeles City nga po ay napabayaan niya noong mayor siya at puro anomalya ang ipinamana niya, ano naman po kaya ang gagawin niya sa distrito?
Sa pagkakaalam ko po ay walang na-reject sa mga bills niya sa Congress dahil wala siyang nai-file kahit isa na makakabuti para sa mga taga first district…
“Kaya po siguro gusto niyang bumalik sa pagiging congressman dahil sarado na ang Angeles City sa kanya…
“Ang inyo pong lingkod ay naghahangad lamang ng pagbabago at tunay na serbisyo para sa inyo tulad ng ginawa natin as vice-governor kung saan una nating inayos ang quarry operations at marami pang ibang proyekto.
Tayo po ay hindi naninira ng sino man. Atin lang pong sinasagot ang inyong mga katanungan. Tayo ay one team tungo sa pagbabago.”
So we read in the April 25 issue of Headline Gitnang Luzon.
Naturally, Blueboy struck back:
“Like a drowning man, Vice Gov. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao is clutching at anything to keep afloat. He is even digging his feet in slime just to keep his nose above the water…
“(Guiao’s) ignorance of the true facts has led him to call me a non-performer. My accomplishments as congressman can be verified in the House of Representatives. Listing them in detail will require valuable space…
“Constituents of the first district do not need to be convinced of the projects I have infused in the area. My work performance outside Congress has been the reason why they have voted me as their Representative…
“Angeles, during my term, had been known far and wide as the ‘City of Friendship… (but) the shortcomings of my administration as city mayor have been grossly exaggerated…
“My life, my fortune, and my future lie in Angeles City. This is my investment in the future of the community to which Mr. Guiao has not spent a peso as his due. Why should our cabalen support him when he has brought nothing, not even a sari-sari store, to a place where he is a virtual visitor?”
And then, the stink bomb: “In branding me as non-performer, let us not lose sight of the fact that Mr. Guiao is a super-performer. His reprehensible and improper behavior as a hot-headed basketball coach had been the subject of some P800,000 in fines and penalties in the PBA as reported in media. Of course he did not pay for these by his own money,
So we read in the April 26 issue of SunStar-Pampanga.
Interestingly, this mutual animosity so dramatized in print did not factor much in both the protagonists’ separate bouts with the Society of Pampanga Columnists.
For Yeng, in Tuesday last week’s dinner at Fortune, it was his legislative agenda focused on Clark as an authority, the MVP element in some future development of the Clark airport, retirement pay for barangay chairmen and kagawads, a sports complex at the Freeport.
For Blueboy, it was unfinished business needing some happy closure.
Ah, yes, to the “Paciencia Paras Yabut” of a luncheon past at Oasis was added, during Friday’s lunch, “Super Koboy” as in Yeng’s whole political career allegedly hitched on the resources, power and popularity of some others.
As in: “Sumakay kay Lito Lapid sa pagka-bise gobernador noong 2004. Sumakay sa mga Pineda noong 2007, 2010 magpahanggang ngayon. Tapos, nakasakay pa rin kay MPV.”
Aye, I eagerly await what comes out in print this week.
