Ironically, the suspicions that the “powers that be” are behind the disqualification of Senator Grace Poe and the planned massive demolition job on Davao City mayor Digong Duterte have only boomeranged and hurt the chances of Liberal Party candidate Mar Roxas.

The results of the latest Pulse Asia survey showing Vice President Jojo Binay in the lead at 33 percent while the Social Weather Stations survey showed him statistically tied with Senator Grace Poe on top at 26 percent clearly show that the less candidates there are, the better the vice president’s chances are of winning the presidency in May 2016.

We can all agree with Star columnist Alex Magno that Vice President Binay would be the ultimate beneficiary if Poe and Duterte are taken out of the race. It’s a well-known fact that Jojo Binay has a solid base that has shown support despite the consistent barrage of accusations and allegations that have been thrown his way. A former DILG Secretary has confirmed to me that the grassroots machinery of the United Nationalist Alliance is well oiled, with relationships having been established years ago when Binay was still mayor of Makati, entering into “sisterhood” arrangements with many towns and cities wherein local government units received assistance while their constituents benefited by way of services available to Makati residents. For instance, if someone from a sister town or city happened to be in Makati and was in need of medical assistance, he could get it from the Ospital ng Makati, the former Cabinet official said. Aside from the “sisterhood” arrangement, Binay also knew he could count on the “brotherhood” – the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity to be exact, with the members – many of them in influential positions – banding together to throw the full weight of their support for their “brod.”

Our in-house survey analyst tells us that the disqualification of both Duterte and Poe would result in the migration of votes to Binay from the two’s respective supporters who would be raring to “punish” those whom they deem responsible for the disqualification – which could only worsen the scenario for the administration candidate who continues to be at the tail end of surveys. The latest poll results from Pulse Asia actually showed Mar’s numbers declining by four percent from 21 to 17 percent.

People’s prevailing perception that the Commission on Elections has shown “indecent haste” in moving to disqualify Senator Poe – giving her a one-two-three punch within the space of three weeks with decisions from the Second Division, then the First Division and finally the en banc, have only strengthened suspicions that the administration is responsible for the moves against Poe. Her supporters are naturally angry because they see a well-orchestrated effort, pointing to the timing of the Comelec’s decision on Wednesday – just before government offices closed for Christmas vacation and with the Supreme Court on holiday recess. This leaves Grace with only one option – which is to file a petition for a temporary restraining order before the SC. Poe’s lawyers are hopeful that the SC and Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno will act with dispatch and see the urgency of the petition to issue a TRO or a status quo ante order.

Mar Roxas has the backing of the well-heeled and the majority of the AB class, but their number is not enough to give him victory as disgruntled voters – whether they are Poe’s supporters or not – could cast their votes for either Binay or Duterte as payback or as “protest” votes, similar to what happened when Sonny Trillanes successfully ran for Senator in 2007 while in detention. In the event that Duterte is also disqualified, the mayor had also publicly announced he will campaign for Vice President Binay. We can therefore only conclude that Mar’s chances of winning can only be better if there were more presidential candidates, similar to the 1992 elections where FVR won with the backing of Cory Aquino.

The ‘Iron Lady’ of Philippine journalism

The unexpected demise of Inquirer editor-in-chief Letty Jimenez Magsanoc came as a shock to me. I just spoke to her a couple of months ago. In fact, she had dinner at my home a couple of times, at one time with former president Joseph Estrada. Letty enjoyed a bottle of good red wine over dinner.

I first came to know Letty as the sister of the late Lourdes Jimenez Carvajal – more popularly known as Inday Badiday or Ate Luds, the original queen of talk – whom I worked with at RPN 9 where I was a news reporter.

Letty Magsanoc was a highly respected and no-nonsense journalist, and while she may be a friend, people knew she was a newspaperwoman first. She will give you a chance to respond to an issue, but she will not also hold her punches.

Last June, I nominated her as the “Journalist of the Year” awardee by the oldest and most prestigious Rotary club in Asia – the Manila Rotary. RCM’s journalism committee – which I headed – recognized her as “an icon in the world of journalism.” She was definitely one of the most highly respected journalists in the country. Many certainly agreed with my nomination that she deserved to win as an RCM journalism awardee. At the awarding ceremony, I described Letty Magsanoc as “another clear proof that sometimes, the best man for the job is a woman.”

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Once again, my congratulations to outgoing Trade Secretary Greg Domingo and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario who came out as “Best Performing” Cabinet Secretaries in an informal end-of-the-year survey conducted among businessmen, with the two secretaries “statistically tied” in first place.

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