Alvarez’s comic agenda

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

Except for a few media sto­ries, defrocked House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez descended from this PDP-Laban throne without much fanfare, abdicat­ing his post as secretary general of a party he did not serve hon­orably and well.

His fall from grace started when he took the gamble of coming out with a double-edged statement stating the next Pres­ident must walk the talk and not use bravado in asserting power. Alvarez, however, cast the die on the wrong side. The under­currents that followed signaled his eventual exit from a party he once bullied by sidestepping on its internal rules.

To mitigate the impact his recent statement, the expelled House leader made a polite de­parture without courting the President’s ire. To reduce the bad vibes generated by his re­treat, he launched his voter’s education campaign. He also made sure the moribund Re­porma Party of ex-Defense Sec­retary Renato de Villa, his new home, would participate in his outdated gambit.

Alvarez’s literacy campaign is more comic that rational. For someone associated with “dirty” money in the 2019 polls, he also faces the accusation he was behind the “get rich quick” scheme that took Tagum City by storm that year. Worse, people accuse him of keeping the pro­ceeds from the money trap and using these to finance an awful­ly costly electoral campaign.

Recently, the “masterminds” in the investment scheme have been apprehended. People are therefore hopeful that after the dust has settled, the true story behind the scam can be known and the brains of the rip-off ex­posed and identified.

Viewed from the ground, Al­varez’s political star is slowly losing its luster. After betraying Rep. Antonio R. Floirendo Jr., who funded his political dreams, some of his friends have looked at him like an expired bulb. With no power to hang on, his utopi­an campaign to educate gullible voters may only rub more salt to his already injured reputation.

There are also issues that he must confront in the months or years to come. The Ombudsman has already commenced dig­ging into the plunder case filed against him in Davao City. With the recent creation of a national anti-graft task force, there is no arguing the billion-peso flyover in Tagum City, still incomplete up to this minute, would face scrutiny.

If the anti-corruption rang­ers really want to dig mud, why not include the nagging issue of Alvarez having purchased nu­merous high-priced properties during his House leadership? For someone who had to beg for money to fund his past politi­cal campaigns, seeing him now wallow in luxury and affluence raises more questions than an­swers.