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Philippines |
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What now, Lito Lapid? (1) |
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Source: Inquirer |
Author: Tonette Orejas |
Date: 2000-03-28 |
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WHEN movie actors-turned-politicians were aberrant figures in Philippine politics, Kapampangans welcomed one. In Gov. Manuel ''Lito'' Lapid, they did not only accept a movie star, they also brought to power one who came from the ranks of the poor and the unschooled.
These three features, including the reinvention that traditional
political stalwarts made of him, make Lapid all the more a
peculiar case in Pampanga politics, which is most of the time
dominated by scions of the elite and the educated.
Suspended by Ombudsman Aniano Desierto for a year starting
last Wednesday on charges of misconduct in connection with
an alleged quarry scam, Lapid's political career took a downturn.
His leadership has lost steam. Instead of performing his
mandate, he had been parrying off one charge after another. His
partymates in Lakas, especially the mayors, had retreated
without a whimper, with only a few coming to his defense.
While he would be out of the limelight for a year as a penalty for
misconduct in the alleged quarry scam, the capitol is again in a
mess, saddled with a leadership change and the uncertainties
that come with having a caretaker government.
Lapid's plight, a radio commentator noted, provides a basis for
rethinking having movie actors for leaders.
Politics and movies
''Ang pulitika ay hindi kagaya ng pelikula (Politics is not like
the movies).''
That was not a punchline after a pregnant pause. Neither was it
intended as a comic relief for a tearjerker sequel.
Lapid made that insight on the victory day of his second term. It
was, he said, a realization he learned the hard way.
In politics for almost nine years, Lapid has clearly delineated the
line between his two worlds.
''In the movies, the story can be near or far from reality. In
politics, there are too many lies and problems. Somebody else
wants your post or use you for evil plans. In the movies, you
have control. In politics, you are the one controlled if you wish
to be fooled,'' he said in Filipino, drawing from his experience.
Fifty or so action flicks and a high school education, he
admitted, did not prepare him for governance. All he knew was
do stunts, jab, kick, act as the perennial hero to a lady in
distress, wield a gun, fire blank bullets and defeat his screen
foes.
What he had to make it in Pampanga politics were his keen
memory, honed from memorizing scripts, his popularity and, as
he claimed then, his heart for the poor.
Of course, as vice governor, he was the creation of the then
unpopular Nationalist People's Coalition. Backed up by political
stalwarts like former Pampanga governor and justice secretary,
Estelito Mendoza, and by then Sen. Joseph Estrada, Lapid
shone amid the waning glory of the NPC.
The vice governorship was not difficult, Lapid said, pointing to
the training and support he got from then Gov. Bren Guiao.
As governor, he scored high in the polls, garnering 85 percent
of more than 2 million votes in his first term and 75 percent in his
second term, Commission on Elections data showed.
Lapid further altered the landscape of Pampanga politics, struck
a compromise with the elite's scions in local politics and, as he
promised the class where he belonged, made the capitol closer
to the poor.
What the novice governor lacked in brain, he compensated by
surrounding himself with what to him were seasoned, if not
reliable, advisers.
He said he learned to preside over meetings, scrutinize
contracts, handle crises, administer to funds, grace affairs,
oversee rescue operations, court businessmen to infuse capital
for the disaster-plagued province--all on the prompting of his
advisers, capitol insiders say.
He had many faux pas, violated many protocols and, in time,
built up dozens of jokes to his name even before the Erap jokes
became in vogue.
Unlike the movies, Lapid said he was the director, the person in
command at the capitol.
''I have advisers but ultimately, I make the decision on what is
good for the province,'' he told the INQUIRER.
But then Vice Gov. Cielo Macapagal-Salgado, an economist, did
not like the way things were being done at the capitol.
To her, Lapid was nothing but a cinematic governor, one who
had a director to tell him what to say and what to do. To her, the
advisers themselves were running the capitol in ways that were
not helpful to the province.
In 1997, Salgado told the INQUIRER that she offered Lapid
graduates she knew from prestigious universities who would
help him run the capitol. Lapid shot down the proposal and
continued to rely on his advisers.
While his action flicks had predictable plots, boxed-up
characters and happy endings, the last months of his first term
began showing signs of an intricate storyline whose twists and
turns were beyond his control.
The Lapid-Macapagal tandem split. By bolting the NPC, he
earned a formidable enemy, Joseph Estrada, his political
godfather, no less.
His trusted advisers became his antagonists.
The transition months between his first and second terms were
plagued by allegations of corruption involving the collection of
quarry taxes, purchase of the P104-million land for the provincial
government's mass housing project and the P4-million
unliquidated cash advances.
The capitol's control over quarry operations was plucked by the
national government, a move that left the coffers of the Lapid
administration dry.
His friend of 18 years, Rodrigo Fernandez, turned state witness
in the quarry case.
Politics and the movies do thrive on conflicts but the similarity
between the two ends on that element, Lapid said. ''Politics is
cruel,'' he lamented.
In the movies, his one-man quest for justice always ends on a
positive note. Hounded by three administrative and two criminal
charges during his second term, Lapid is left to the mercy of the
courts.
Court battle
In January, Desierto dismissed two administrative cases against
Lapid in connection with the alleged land scam and the
unliquidated advances.
The first case was dismissed because his reelection during the
May 1998 elections ''operates as a condonation of whatever
misconduct he may have committed to the extent of cutting off
the right to remove him therefore,'' Desierto's order said.
The second case was dropped after the regional Commission on
Audit, on Sept. 27, 1999, certified that Lapid had liquidated his
cash advances worth P2.629 million.
While the criminal aspects of the quarry and land cases have
yet to prosper at the Sandiganbayan, the administrative aspect
of the quarry case has already smashed the man.
It drew a six-month preventive suspension in 1998 and starting
March 22, a one-year suspension, one that he tried keeping at
bay through a Temporary Restraining Order from the Court of
Appeals.
With Lapid unable to get a second TRO from the appellate
court, the Department of Interior and Local Government on
Wednesday went ahead in implementing the Ombudsman's
order, first issued in November last year and upheld in January.
Pictured and scorned for being a dimwit, Lapid said he was not,
stressing he ''knew what due process was'' and that it was
''lacking in his case'' if it concerned the quarry case.
''There are pieces of evidence that will clear me but the
Ombudsman ignored these,'' he said.
(to be continued)
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