“To me, there is no greater way to achieve clarity than to run alone, or share miles with a trusted friend.” –Kristin Armstrong

Currently, Ilonggos can only take the claim Iloilo City Councilor Jeffrey Ganzon has been named the designated “point man” by President Rodrigo Duterte in Iloilo City at face value. After revealing he had met with the president last week in Davao City, where he was reportedly invited to join the PDP-Laban, many are speculating he is eyeing a run for mayor in 2019 – Ganzon dismissed the rumors.
Assuming he changes his mind and Ganzon throws his hat into the ring under the PDP-Laban banner, and assuming Rep. Jerry Trenas runs for the same post, Ganzon’s biggest stumbling block would be “equity of the incumbent” principle, since Trenas has been a member of PDP-Laban since the start of the Duterte administration.
It would, however, be another story if Trenas paves the way for Vice Mayor Jose ‘Joe III’ Espinosa of the Liberal Party to run for mayor.
In a political context, a “point man” is a person at the forefront of an activity, in other words, an organizer or coordinator. The point man would have no other official portfolio besides being affiliated with the ruling party.
Since Ganzon is an elected official and he has not relinquished his position, his designation as a point man may be assumed to be a liaison. It could also mean he was tapped to be the president’s eyes and ears in Iloilo. Whichever capacity he is in, it is presumed he has the trust and confidence of the president.
Ganzon’s potential rivals should have no reason to worry, since the alderman from Molo has not yet been officially sworn in as a PDP-Laban member. Trenas and other PDP-Laban members may, however, start to cross the bridge once Ganzon becomes a full-fledged member.

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We will be watching the three musketeers of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) who cast aspersions on the reputation of dismissed Secretary Mike Sueno.
We hope they can exorcise the ghost that bedeviled them to conduct their widely-known fracas versus the grand old man of South Cotabato.
Sueno, a well-loved and much-admired former South Cotabato governor, insisted he never pocketed a single centavo from the 76 fire trucks, worth P20-million each in Austria, since no public funds have been paid to the supplier yet, which will be done on a government-to-government basis.
It’s not a joke to be fired on allegations of corruption, especially if your guilt has not been proven.
At his age, Sueno must be hurting so much. If he were Japanese, he would have committed suicide because of the degree of shame he received from the unforgiving Duterte./WDJ