MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/10 May) – Without intending to, Bukidnon Vice Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr.’s verbal antics on Monday confirmed what had only been known through the grapevine, that he has always wanted Gov. Alex P. Calingasan to resign so that he (Zubiri) can regain his former post. Reports on a local radio station said the vice governor harangued the governor with words that don’t deserve a space here.
The Catholic church-run dxDB reported that Zubiri aired his tirade against Calingasan during a convocation program at the capitol. It was the first time that Zubiri openly hit his long-time ally, although frictions between them had surfaced as soon as they switched positions in 2010.
Zubiri cited reasons for his attack on Calingasan. But he omitted one reason – the real one – which the governor explained to dxDB: Zubiri was incensed over reports Calingasan will seek reelection in 2013.
Calingasan denied he is running for the same post next year and maintained he won’t go against Zubiri. He said it was the people around the vice governor that sowed intrigues between him and his acknowledged patron.
The governor did not stop there. He said that before the May 2010 election he agreed to Zubiri’s imposition to resign six months after sitting as governor. Zubiri would then negotiate for Calingasan a Cabinet position granting Senator Manuel Villar won.
Although an ally of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Zubiri supported Villar’s bid for the presidency.
Calingasan said that since Villar lost, Zubiri told him to stay put [as governor].
But based on reports from my sources at capitol, relations between the two highest provincial officials have turned sour after the elections. A source said that in a function attended by capitol employees Calingasan announced his plan to lay off some job order and contractual workers to optimize the budget for other purposes.
However, in his speech during the same event Zubiri declared no employee would be removed. His word prevailed over Calingasan’s, my source added.
This and other incidents relayed to me by my sources suggest that Calingasan was just being diplomatic when he told dxDB that Zubiri did not press him to resign after six months as governor. The vice governor’s actuations indicated impatience, if not annoyance, over having to wait for 2013 to get his old post back.
Calingasan did the right thing in not resigning despite the reported agreement with Zubiri. Neither of them – Zubiri in particular – has the right to consign a sovereign decision to political whim. Even the fact that Zubiri played a key role in Calingasan’s victory is no reason to treat electoral mandate as an ordinary chip that can be disposed at will.
Zubiri had already enjoyed three straight terms as governor, and before that, three straight terms as congressman. Is three years too long too wait?
Or – and this is what I really wanted to ask ever since – isn’t it time to try new faces? (H. Marcos C. Mordeno mainly writes on the environment, human rights and politics. He can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com.)