Attention-catching news

While the national capital region and the rest of Luzon were battered by heavy rains causing so much flooding in many areas, the nation was treated to not just one but three news competing for the people’s attention.

Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the regional party Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio put up, is slowly but surely establishing itself as the political party to reckon with after it coalesced with nine political parties.

Three of the nine are national parties – Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition and the National Union Party.

Six other regional parties likewise forged alliance with Duterte-Carpio’s HNP. These are the Ilocano Timpuyog, Alyansa Bol-anon Alang sa Kausaban, Aggrupation of Party for Progress, Kambilan, PaDayon Pilipino and Serbisyo sa Bayan.

The heavy rains that soaked the national capital region since weekend up to this writing did not deter the leaders of the aforementioned parties from gathering in Parañaque City to prove their resolve to coalesce come hell or high water.

It’s a big political development for it is changing the current political landscape. Now there is a political group that’ll undeniably pull the other parties, national or local, toward it so the latter can secure for themselves a chance at making good in next year’s mid-term elections.

The biggest loser of this newest development, however, is the administration party, the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino or PDP, the party that catapulted then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency in 2016.

On record, PDP remains the administration party but what could not be denied is that its power, strength and even relevance have been greatly diminished, if it is not totally diminished yet. Its membership was greatly emaciated since the ouster of its party president, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, from the lofty Senate presidency followed by the downfall of its secretary general, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez Jr., from the speakership of the House.

For all intents and purposes, PDP at this point is done. It is a party that is just reminiscing its glorious recent past. But what has befallen this party is its own making. Its leaders sadly did not prepare how to handle power and how to keep it. They acted like political novices competing in bigtime politics.

The moment PDP allowed Pimentel to be replaced by Sen. Vicente Sotto III, it kissed goodbye its glory days. And the last nail that sealed its coffin was when its members just watched idly while their last hope came tumbling down from his seat in the House.

This was the second news that drew the nation’s attention, the consequence of which was the rise of Duterte-Carpio’s HNP to national prominence in a magical way.

The third news was the success by which unscrupulous smugglers, apparently aided by equally unscrupulous Bureau of Customs personnel in causing to slip out of the Port of Manila, the country’s premier port, P6.8 billion worth of shabu that in all likelihood is now flooding the illegal drugs trade market. This particular shipment is part of the estimated P12 billion shabu that came from China trans shipped to the country through Malaysia, according to reports.

The entire shipment was all contained in magnetic lifters. About P5 billion of this shipment was discovered by Customs authorities when they forced open abandoned containers at the port’s premises. The rest of the shipment was later discovered to have slipped out of the Port of Manila and found its way in a warehouse in Cavite. Opened magnetic lifters such as those found inside the abandoned containers were found in the Cavite warehouse.

This incident is an open war against the Duterte administration’s policy against illegal drugs, hence its current dreaded war on drugs. And it also serves as a challenge to the Duterte administration to seriously wage war against bigtime drug lords and syndicates if it truly wants to liberate the country from the clutches of illegal drugs.

Many believe this incident where P6.8 billion of shabu was successfully smuggled into the country will be a political issue against the sitting administration unless the personalities behind it are hauled before the courts of law soonest.