UPDATED: Cayetano visits the Cayetanos

Buking na naman sila Lozano at ang protege niya. From Lito Banayo:

Res ipsa loquitor. The thing speaks for itself.

Oliver Lozano fumes at Alan Peter Cayetano for visiting his protégé Joselito’s family in Davao City. Nabisto na si Oliver, humihirit pa.

He even let the cat out of the bag. Oliver doubts if his Joselito will be disqualified by the Comelec. Otherwise, said Oliver, "First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo will get angry" at the Comelec.

Actually, it was Bongbong Marcos who made the comment about Mike Arroyo getting angry at the COMELEC kung na disqualify si Peter "juju" Cayetano.

JB Baylon: Pepito on a String

Depending on where you stand politically, the lightning visit of GO senatorial candidate Alan Peter Cayetano to the Davao residence of KBL senatorial candidate Joselito Pepito Cayetano is either a stroke of genius or one that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

The latter is how KBL senatorial candidate Oliver Lozano – whom I call "Oliver Twist" – sees it; Lozano seems to view the move by the GO Cayetano as a cheap trick designed to pressure the KBL Cayetano’s family into convincing Joselito to back off.

Of course, Alan Peter and his partisans see it otherwise – and so do many other Filipinos who either texted me about it or gave me their opinions about it, including the listeners of the daily public affairs radio program "Pananaw sa DWWW 774 kHz" which airs from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. Mondays to Saturdays.

You can understand why Lozano reacted the way he reacted. The short visit of Alan revealed a lot about the other Cayetano senatoriable – including such details as his family having been taken away from where they live in Davao, and the Cayetano matriarch actually expressing fears for her son’s well-being.

And if it is true that all that Joselito wanted to find in Manila was a job, what a successful job hunt he has had! Win or lose, we should expect Joselito’s life to improve for the better, much better, in fact, if suspicions about who is behind his candidacy are proven correct. Think about it: a man goes to Manila to find a job; he is drafted to run for senator and his whole family is uprooted and moved to parts unknown.

Contrast that to stories about movie actor Cesar Montano wanting to give up campaigning because he is running out of funds. It seems that Joselito Pepito doesn’t have Cesar’s problem, to think that Cesar is the successful actor and Joselito Pepito is, or at least claims to be, a marine engineer.

Cesar has no money and Joselito Pepito has no money problems at all.

Hmmm.

Double hmmm if, as is being reported, KBL titular head and FM namesake Ilocos Norte Governor Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denies having even endorsed the candidacy of Joselito Pepito, which should imply that Marcos Jr. is not funding the latter’s campaign. So if the Marcoses, with their vaunted wealth, are not funding the campaign of the KBL or of Joselito Pepito, then who is?

Maybe Oliver Lozano would know who is truly pulling Joselito Pepito’s strings? Then again, do we expect Lozano to tell? Or, should I ask, need we still wait for him to tell?

LOL.

Plus: Alston witness on extra judicial killings shot dead

From the Tribune:

The political murders are not likely to stop, and neither is the Armed Forces of the Philippines likely to change its ways in “salvaging” more and more activists, despite a United States Senate panel announcing a probe on these extra-judicial killings in the Philippines that have not abated but continue to increase in number under the Arroyo regime.

A ranking Foreign Affairs official yesterday warned of a possible reduction of US aid to the Philippine government if the extra-judicial killings will remain unsolved.

And it is likely to remain unsolved, with yet another member of the leftist group Bayan Muna party-list who testified during the recent investigation by United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston shot and killed in cold blood with her family members witnessing the murder.

The latest salvaging victim, Cheche Bustamante-Gandinao, stood as Alston’s witness during his visit to Mindanao. She was witness to the killing last month of her father-in-law, Dalmacio, then the provincial Bayan Muna chairman. She had earlier told media she feared for her life.