‘In Between Columns’

The calls for GMA’s resignation has earned Vice President Noli de Castro both a second look by political observers and pleyers as well as a demolition job by detractors.

The vice president himself has his men going around the country to feel the pulse and at the same time laying the grounds for a nationwide machinery.

Many in the middle class may not have a high regard for de Castro. But he is our vice president — the man who rise into power if current efforts to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo succeeds.

Fortunately for GMA, I don’t think the opposition is solidly behind the resignation call.

The presidentiables within the opposition camp surely don’t want de Castro as sitting president when he runs for the same position in 2010.

Come to think of it. Since the time he was elected vice president, de Castro is already a contender for the presidency come 2010.

My news editor Roger Vallena told me last night Fr. Diola and his Dilaab are wary of Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada and his testimony because of his association with some opposition personalities.

It seems revelations on Jun Lozada’s meetings with Sen. Panfilo Lacson and the senator’s role in his eventual emergence as an NBN-ZTE witness has colored the "reluctant hero’s" image with somekey sectors in Cebu.

If I were Lozada, I should stick more with the religious sector than with Lacson and his camp.

Already, Lacson’s publicity man Lito Banayo has been bragging in his Malaya column about his knowledge of the Ping-Jun relationship.

Incidentally, (let me digress a little on Lito Banayo) Tonton Antogop is being teased for having beaten Banayo in te 2004 election. Tonton was with the camp of Rep. Nerry  Soon-Ruiz while Banayo came to Cebu to help Luigi Quisumbing.

While Tonton is taking the credit however, only a few knew I was the one who told him about the arrival of the Banayo group. Tayming lang that I was having beer with Rey Bajenting that night at Da Vinci’s at Osmena blvd. when Tonton suddenly emerged from the adjoining Internet cafe.

Mobilizing hundreds of thousands to more than a million was easier against the Marcos and Estrada administrations than against Arroyo after she hurdled her first difficult year.

I can cite many reasons for this difficulty. Internally, the broad people power movement has so failed to put its act together. Even during crucial mass actions, it could only muster a little more than 50,000 in Metro Manila from its organized mass base. Worse, it  failed to excite and spark spontaneous public participation that should have swelled their ranks during demonstrations.

The dramatic emergence of NBN-ZTE scam witness Jun Lozada has attracted the attention of the public nationwide.

Members of the various civil society and militant groups, active members of the religious, and the opposition are reportedly coordinating to get their acts together so as not to fail Lozada’s "heroism."

Will Lozada’s heroism then finally unleash the wrath of people power against the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?

I’m still skeptical.