Who Moved My Chiz?

It came a bit of shock to many nang biglang nag-resign si Chiz Escudero kahapon bilang miyembro ng Nationalist People's Coalition o NPC (na pinamumunuan ng Chairman Emeritus nito na si Danding Cojuangco).

At a time when almost lahat ng tao ay inaasahan na magdedeklara siya kagabi ng pagtakbo bilang standard-bearer ng NPC sa 2010 elections, biglang nagpatawag si Chiz nang presscon sa Club Filipino, San Juan kahapon nang umaga upang i-announce na nagbitiw na siya sa NPC.

Immediately, a lot of people are clamoring for answers on why Chiz resigned. Political analyst Manolo Quezon has this to say on twitter:

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@mlq3:"chiz's big backers had been danding, lucio tan, and i think razon (enrique). w/out EC (danding), LT (tan) won't bet big. Dunno re: Razon and friends."

and to which i replied:

@joyagustin: super power pala ang mga supporters ni chiz. danding, lucio tan, and enrique razon. wow! is business synonimous to politics?
NP and NPC, is there a big possibility?

@mlq3: NP-NPC as possible as PaLaKa-NPC, maybe Gibo has patched up quarrel with uncle.
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I'll be emphasizing about BUSINESS being SYNONIMOUS to POLITICS.

Later on, political bloggers started to swarm the web and post their respective views about Chiz bolting out of NPC.

I will want to quote some important parts of the commentary of Pat Mangubat in Filipino Voices:

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1. Let’s face it—the primary reasons behind Chiz Escudero’s decision to resign from NPC are: he lacks the funds after his big-ticket financiers withdrew and he is being weakened by defections.

2. His ratings went down when Senator Noynoy Aquino entered the political fray. Two things which hurt Escudero: rumours of a merger of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and the administration and Escudero’s association with Marcos crony, Danding Cojuangco. Signs of a merger began to percolate as early as August, after government asked the Supreme Court to convert coco levy shares at SMC from ordinary to preferred shares. With the prospects of a merger, that, surely will completely turn off progressive groups supportive of Chiz Escudero’s. Defections began to hurt Escudero’s camp, particularly that of the Osmenas who transferred to Noynoy’s camp. Osmena reportedly transferred after getting signs that Danding was half-supportive of Escudero’s bid. Osmena also took the cue from Lucio Tan about Escudero being “young” and ” still unprepared for the presidency.” That intensified defections, especially of financiers from the Filipino-Chinese community.

3. Danding Cojuangco’s last minute refusal to attend the big rally at the UP to announce his presidential bid, was more than enough signals already that the former Marcos crony was un-impressed with him.

4. Chiz has no choice but to resign from the party and declare himself a “free agent.” By doing so, Chiz hopes to re-consolidate his mass base support by positioning himself as a non-traditional politician, someone not beholden to any political party nor any big political financier.

5. Possible scenarios/results of Escudero’s resignation: 1. NPC and admin party will now have full rein for a merger. The possibility of Teodoro-Legarda tandem is now in the works. 2. The Liberal Party will move to convince Chiz to either endorse Noynoy’s bid or ask him to join the process of selecting the true People’s choice of a non-trapo candidate. 3. Should Chiz proceed as an independent candidate, he will damage Estrada’s bid, weaken Noynoy’s mass base and eventually allow Manny Villar’s victory in the 2010 polls.

Pat's full article here
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Magulo, masyadong magulo. Maraming pwedeng mangyari pa dahil malayo pa ang eleksiyon at marami pang baliktaran at alyansang mangyayari.

Business tycoons and financiers are reading the signs and looking at where the wind is blowing to see whoever they would support in the final stretch.

Basta ang naging malinaw sa akin ngayon, POLITICS IS SYNONIMOUS TO BUSINESS.

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"If you do not change, you can become extinct."

-from the book Who Moved My Cheese