When I saw 13 presidential wannabes dressed in their jogging outfits on their way to make a “run for clean elections,” I almost fell off my seat laughing.

Actually only Makati Mayor Jojo Binay made the run for 5 kilometers in the 15-kilometer run. The others just went for breakfast and whiled their time exchanging jokes and pleasantries. Three other aspirants —Vice President Noli de Castro, Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and priest-turned-politician Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio—were not able to make it at all.

A “run” for clean elections? Santa Banana, they must be kidding! If these presidential aspirants don’t cheat, their supporters will. It’s just a question who does it best.

I’ve often quoted the late Manila Mayor Arsenic Lacson, who once said that “politics is like looking into a garbage can.”

What’s sad about it is that we, the people, are always taken for a ride. My gulay, we are all victims of hypocrisy!

***

There’s an obvious attempt to boost the image of Senator Noynoy Aquino with all the media hype to make him President. There are also alleged plans in the Liberal Party to field either a Mar Roxas-Noynoy or a Noynoy-Mar tandem for 2010.

I can’t quite understand what’s behind this. It’s not only portraying the Liberal Party as divided between Mar and Noynoy. Moreover, the image of Mar as the best bet of the party is being tarnished. If the Liberals don’t realize this, they must be dumb.

In the case of Noynoy, his only credential and qualification to seek higher office is his being the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. That’s all. Neither does Noynoy have the track record, much less the competence and credentials for the vice presidency or the presidency. What has he done except bask in the shadow of his famous parents? Neither does he have that “star quality” that appeals to people.

An attempt to boost the image of Noynoy is done at the expense of Mar, who is not doing too well in poll surveys.

I say that Mar is still the best bet of the Liberal Party for the presidency.

His background in the executive as Trade and Industry secretary and his record in the Senate attests to it. These he accomplished on his own, without relying on his being the grandson of a great President and son of another great senator.

As for Noynoy, well he’s the son of a political martyr and an icon of democracy, period.

***

With Gibo Teodoro continuing to hug the bottom of the totem pole in poll surveys, the merged administration political parties Lakas-Kampi-CMD may just end up adopting Vice President Noli de Castro as the administration standard-bearer. Worse, they may have to coalesce with a winning presidential candidate.

Actually, this possibility is not entirely the fault of Gibo since the administration appears to be taking its sweet time to select its standard- bearer. Now may be too late to have Gibo become the administration’s bet for may reasons.

One is the fact that Gibo needs a lot of branding so people could identify with him. As for now, the defense secretary has no identity. People are looking for somebody who can espouse change they can believe in. To do that takes a long time—and a lot of funds, too.

Teodoro may have been a Bar topnotcher, a competent legislator in his nine-year stint as congressman, untainted, and possibly has the North and Central Luzon as his base.

But it takes more than that to become a President.

***

A graft complaint by so-called “concerned citizens” against Commission on Higher Education chairman Manny Angeles—for allegedly favoring East Timor scholars to enroll at the Angeles University Foundation—has the making of an attempt of people salivating to take over the Ched for personal reasons.

This charge is nothing new. Before Angeles was named to the commission, there was also this accusation that he was taking in Pakistanis into the AUF—something which was contrary to law. It was timed to prevent Angeles from getting his appointment and was traced to a Ched commissioner who wanted the chairmanship.

Now this graft complaint filed at the Ombudsman, which to all intents and purposes has no legal leg to stand on. The assignment of the 36 of the 109 scholars from East Timor was not because of Angeles. As Timor-Leste Ambassador Francisco Cepeda said, the scholars were given the opportunity to choose which Central Luzon school to enroll in. And they preferred AUF considering its track record and academic excellence. In other words, it’s the students themselves and the Embassy of Timor-Leste who made the choice, not Angeles. So, my gulay, what’s the beef?

***

The graft charge against Angeles as Ched chairman claimed that Angeles University Foundation is family-owned. Thus there is conflict of interest.

Santa Banana, why don’t the detractors of Angeles look at the records and see that AUF is a non-profit foundation after the Angeles family donated their interests to it?

I know for a fact that before Angeles accepted the chairmanship of the commission, he was cleared legally on this issue. This after some characters in the organization tried to block his appointment on the same issue.

The real reason behind this demolition job against Angeles is that from Day One, he started cleaning up the commission, which had been plagued with corrupt officials. And all these were traced to some high officials of the Ched before the term of Angeles.

***

There’s this newspaper report that Century Properties, a 24-year-old property developer, which has earned a solid reputation for developing premium high-rise condominiums, is diversifying into the middle-income residential segment as part of its strategic move to widen its consumer base.

Century Properties, chaired by Joey Antonio, registered a 29-percent sales growth in the first seven months of the year on strong take-up of its residential units. Among the well-known projects of Century Properties are the 3.4-hectare Century City in Makati, which includes the Gramercy Residences and the Knightsbridge Residences; the Canyon Ranch at the San Lazaro Carmona Leisure Park; its twin tower residential development at Fort Bonifacio; the Soho Central, mixed-use commercial and residential project at Shaw Blvd. and Edsa; and the slated Grand Soho Makati in Salcedo Village, Makati. It also developed the upscale Essensa East Forbes in the Bonifacio Global CIty.

When I asked Antonio why Century was going into the mid-income market, he said that not only is the property development continuing to grow, but he believes in the future of the Filipino middle-income class with some nine million overseas Filipino workers and close to a million call center employees nationwide.

For people like Antonio, I have high admiration and respect. He believes in the future of the country, especially in the middle- income group which could be the backbone of the country’s progress and development.

To Century Properties, I say, go for it!

***

There are reports that priest-turned-politician Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio may soon be out of a job. In the recount of votes cast in the 2007 local elections, Lilia Pineda now has more than 1,000 votes over Panlilio.

The advantage of Pineda over the incumbent governor is that the “Nanay Baby” votes, actually the nickname of Pineda, were not counted before. Now they are being counted.

Panlilio’s looming defeat in the recount may be the reason he is so noisy right now.

All I can say is that all good things must come to an end. For Panlilio, he had his time.