Jam-Jam running for congresswoman if…

THE ONLY deterrent to Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda’s intention to run for congresswoman of Iloilo City is “reconciliation” between Cong. Jerry Treñas and Mayor Jose Espinosa III, who now appear bent on besting each other for the mayorship in May 2019.

Baronda, a former councillor and now political officer of Sen. JV Ejercito, told us that she would set aside her House ambition if the mag-bilas, whose wives are sisters, abort their “duel”.

“Both are my friends,” Jam-Jam said of Jerry and Joe. “It would do them no good to run for the same post.”

In such a scenario, either one of them would remain standing or both would lose to a forthcoming third force that would take advantage of the split.

We could only scratch my head over Jam-Jam’s selflessness, remembering that the “unity” of Treñas and Espinosa in 2010 was what frustrated her own aspiration. She was running then for vice mayor under the ticket of mayoralty candidate Jed Mabilog. She lost, and one of the reasons was because then Mayor Treñas, though Mabilog’s team-mate, supported her opponent, who happened to be Joe Espinosa.

Baronda would not dare run again against Espinosa this time, assuming the latter would preserve his alliance with Treñas by running for congressman. But with these gentlemen quarrelling over Iloilo City Hall, she would definitely run for congresswoman.

Since Espinosa has already named councilor Joshua Alim as his congressional candidate, Baronda has no choice but team up with Treñas.  This could result in a three-cornered fight with Alim and former councilor Lex Tupas for the House seat. Like Baronda, Lex is a Treñas-Espinosa ally.

The brewing Treñas-Espinosa conflict reminds us of the Bible verse Luke 11:17, saying, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.”

Simply put, the common supporters of the two gentlemen would be forced to choose one. Assuming they have 100,000 supporters divided equally, it would shrink to 50,000 each; hence, could be temptation for a speculative third force to launch its set of local candidates.

The divisiveness could erode the cohesiveness of relatives within the Treñas, Espinosa, Sarabia and Divinagracia clans.  Remember, Rosalie Divinagracia Sarabia-Treñas is a sister of Regina Divinagracia Sarabia-Espinosa.

Though the two belong to different party affiliations – Treñas with the administration party PDP-Laban, Espinosa with the Nacionalista Party – they have a long history of political alliance dating back to the 1990s. Once that synergistic alliance breaks up – imagine an expensive antique crumbling to pieces – it could never be restored.

Baronda believes that the only solution to the political and family problems is for the two to run as a team. Since Treñas is barred by law from running for congressman for the third consecutive time, the latter’s only way out of the conflict without quitting politics is to run for mayor; and Joe for congressman.

I recently found the opportunity to ask the mayor why he could not back out of his mayoral ambition and opt for the congressional, if only to preserve his strong alliance with Treñas.

“It was he who announced his retirement from politics,” Espinosa said of Treñas, looking back to December 2016. “It was he who asked me to run for mayor in the next election.”

At that time, Jed Mabilog was still well-ensconced as last-termer mayor and had no inkling whatsoever that he would be booted out of office by the Ombudsman.

Just thinking of a remote possibility: Considering Jed’s popularity, what if his wife Marivic, who is now a critic of the Duterte presidency, decides to also run for mayor? (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)

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