The Pampanga phenomenon
By +Oscar V. Cruz D. D.
“It’s a divine crusade!” “It’s people power!” “It’s a miracle!” These are some of the impressive and impressing exclamations made by some people on the occasion of the euphoria caused by the election of a priest to the office of Pampanga governor. And the extraordinary claims have their basis in the socio-political realities that surfaced in the province before, during and after the last elections.
The political majority of the Pampangueños amply showed they had enough of the perceived corruption of the two other candidates aspiring for the same office before the priest filed his own candidacy. It was then commonly said that the political contest between the two previous aspirants for the office of the governor, was in substance “balas vs bolitas”. The former stands for the continuous corruption in the quarrying business in the province. The latter on the other hand represents the flagrant corruption brought about by the jueteng syndicate, whose Vatican equivalent is said to be in Lubao, Pampanga.
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