‘In Between Columns’

Can the opposition maintain their present numbers at the Magic 12 of senatoriables? Let’s see how well they could prevent the counting of doctored Mindanao election returns.

Tight public, NGO and media vigilance however is making dagdag-bawas more difficult to carry out.

At this point, I think Team Unity could only push upward Migz Zubiri, Joker Arroyo (if they want to) or the loyalist Mike Defensor.

Last Sunday, I thought Butch Pichay has a chance. But his chances is near to nil.

Antonio Trillanes and Koko Pimentel must do their best to preserve their precarious positions at Number 11 and 12.

If Alan Peter Cayetano keeps up, he’ll be out of reach from the dagdag-bawas artists.

People familiar with MTV and those who frequent clubs like Pump know the existence of two Akon-Snoop Dogg versions of "I wanna luv u." There’s the sanitized version for MTV and the underground version "I wanna fuck u."

I’m sure though, the apostles of anti-indecency in Cebu city won’t know there even exist this rapper named Akon.

Besides, they’d rather raid such indecent places as Naughty Ka (ngano kini man gyud, hehehe!) and spare the exotics in Claudia just a few steps away.

After several decades, I finally was able to return to Mambucal resort in Negros Occidental last Saturday. The first time was during my third year in Don Bosco when I joined an orientation for the seminary. we spent a day then.

What I could remember then was the exhaustive trek to the seventh water falls where we swam like kids to our hearts content.

Last Saturday, I thought I could retrace the trek with daughter Alya and niece Nicole but I could only manage up to the third water falls.

At 46, I thought maybe I should just take a dip at the hot dipping pool while brod-in- law  Archie cooked a dozen eggs at the boiling mud.

After three decades, I found the resort bigger today with such additional joys as riding the kayak, or hanging at the swing for life, or taking a climb at its climbing wall.

The family likes to return next year for an overnight stay to be able complete with camping tents for a more enjoyable adventure.

Yes, I’d like another shot at that long trek up to the seventh falls again.

I was quite amused to learn that Inday Nerry’s camp actually had as their mole inside the camp of Luigi Quisumbing a friend of mine. This friend arranged the meeting between Sally Malig-on and Boy Pecson, the election operator supposedly much much better than Garci.

During the series of meetings, Pecson assured Nerry’s camp that they won’t operate against her.

I assume that what Pecson meant was they won’t operate against her in Mandaue City but in the other areas like Consolacion, Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova.

However, the leaders who at the last moment supposedly went to Quisumbing like Tess Alegado and Adi Sitoy were all the while with the Quisumbing camp. Alegado, for instance, met with Luigi and the old man Tootsie right after Mayor Gungob changed camps. Sitoy has all the while a retainer from Norkis.

hehehe!

It seems the operators of Luigi Quisumbing miscalculated the reaction of Danny Sinugbuhan and his followers when Adi Sitoy would finally reveal his true colors. The Luigi camp should have waited sooner and thus prevent Sinugbuhan from striking a deal with the camp of Nerissa Soon-Ruiz.

Sitoy could have even just placed stickers silently on his sample ballots. But then, both Sitoy and Luigi revealed their hands during a campaign caravan. They wrongly thoughjt it would bring in more votes.

As events unfolded, Quisumbing lost in Cordova town when the original plan was to use the two local warring camps.

This contributed to his deafeat against Iuay Neri.

"Grabi ang tikas ni Sitoy sa Cordova. Patabang mi sa media" goes a text message from a friend in Cordova.

Sure we will cover. But the media could certainly not stop the Sitoys from cheating if that’s what are doing.

Imagine, they simply brushed off the van filled with arms and money as another gimmick of adversaries. But the van is owned by the candidate Adi Sitoy himself.

Mura man sab og nasakpan na sa asawa apan deny gihapon. hehehe! Padayon Sir Adi!

My source said Gabby Leyson had a chance for the mayoralty seat had he continued playing the machinery politics game.

"P100 ra man unta ang panghatag nilang  Soc. Gabby promised P200," my source said.

Unfortunately, his money did not arrive last night. His followers reportedly waited until 12 midnight.

As a result, his watchers and canvassers were nowhere to be found this morning.

For old hands in trapo politics, this means Soc had practically won the fight.

The latest SWS and Pulse Asia surveys show Loren Legarda pulling away from the rest of the senatoriables in the Magic 12. With the way she’s going, I bet she is now looking forward to 2010.

And I think she should. One of her rivals Sen. Mar Roxas is reportedly already preparing the groundworks for his own presidential bid.

Yes, my dear readers. This early.

Gringo Honasan looked excited during this morning’s press conference at the Rajah Park Hotel restaurant when asked about the latest Pulse Asia survey result where he jumped several notches from 11-12 to seventh place. With this momentum, it would be difficult for dagdag-bawas artists to dislodge him from the Magic 12.