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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2016
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IF YOU think this is about a new brand of hip ice cream out to compete with “Ben and Jerry’s” — that brand so popular with the trendy crowd — no it’s not. And we’re not even close although one has a bakeshop/restaurant which probably sells ice cream while the other one has fast-food restaurant and convenient stores that for sure also sells ice cream. I heard he also sells donuts but not the popular ones.
Jed is Jed Patrick Mabilog, the current mayor of “I Am Iloilo” City and Jerry is Jerry Treñas, the sitting congressman of the lone district of Iloilo City. Yes, Iloilo City does have a congressman despite popular belief that there’s none, according to Atty. Dan Cartagena.
These two have a lot in common besides having a penchant for wearing yellow shirts in the past six years. Now both have completely discarded the color yellow and are spotted wearing different colored shirts. I’m sure both would look good wearing matching color-coordinated Hawaiian shirts. Both are now supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte.
I must commend Mayor Jed Mabilog. Despite being one in the President’s list of illegal drugs protectors and Iloilo City tagged as the “Most Shabu-lized City,” he still supported the President and federalism. Likewise for Cong. Jerry Treñas; he challenged President Duterte to a fistfight during the campaign but immediately pledged his support when Duterte won as President.
Both are in their last terms as mayor for Jed Mabilog and congressman for Jerry Treñas, and that situation has created a lot of scenarios and speculations in the local political scene.
The most widely talked about scenario is dividing “I Am Iloilo” City into two congressional districts; the proponent of course is Congressman Treñas. The ulterior motive behind this “gerrymandering” (pun intended) is to avoid a confrontation between Mayor Jed Mabilog, Vice Mayor Joe Espinosa III, who is also in his last term, and Congressman Treñas.
If a confrontation indeed happens, for sure Cong. Jerry Treñas and Vice Mayor Joe Espinosa III will join forces as they are family by virtue of being married to the Sarabia sisters — which leaves Mayor Jed Mabilog alone out in the cold. This scenario probably gave him a lot of sleepless nights.
Well, all’s well that ends well, if Congressman Treñas is to be believed, as during his 60th birthday celebration, he announced his retirement from politics and at the same time endorsed Mayor Jed Mabilog for congressman of “I Am Iloilo” City. This also means that the move to divide the city into two political districts becomes moot and academic.
I would love to see a confrontation between Jed Mabilog and Jerry Treñas in politics, of course. Jed has the edge being the former World Mayor No. 5 while Jerry has never competed in the World Mayor competition.
Jed is also known for joining processions carrying the cross during the Holy Week while Jerry has never been seen carrying anything during the Holy Week. And Jed is synonymous with “beautification projects” while Jerry is not known for having an “eye for beauty.”
But this is not to say that Jerry does not have his own built-in advantages over Jed. One, Jerry looks good in fatigues and combat boots while Jed has never been seen wearing them. In fact, Jed was seen attempting to be one with bikers by wearing a biker’s outfit; he should have never made that attempt.
Two, Jerry owns a popular bakeshop/restaurant and I must say his artisan breads can compete with “French Baker” while Jed’s donuts cannot even compete with “Sidro Donuts.”
If the confrontation indeed does happen, it will be a close fight, perhaps even a draw; a bake-off is needed to break the tie and the one who can bake the best “rye bread” wins./PN
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