Family feud

"I AM ready. I will face even the war in Iraq."

Not so much the mayhem in Saddam’s devastated domain as the masked  swashbuckling Zorro shall Macabebe Mayor Annette Flores-Balgan face in her last run for the mayorship. 
Zorro being the moniker of Leonardo “Bobong” Flores, himself a many-termed mayor, and, yes, elder brother of Flores-Balgan.
Rural legend holds it was Flores that – constrained by the term limits – groomed his beloved sister to take her turn at managing the family heirloom that is the Macabebe mayorship bequeathed upon him, as firstborn, by the patriarch Domingo Flores.
Apung Inggo impacted in the national consciousness in the 1970s with his picture – wearing shades and surrounded by heavily-armed bodyguards – landing in the slim volume Revolution from the Center by the Great Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, with the all-too-telling caption “Central Luzon mayor rules from a circle of guns.”  
Twice though the Flores stranglehold of the Macabebe municipio slipped – in the immediate aftermath of the EDSA aberration, and in 1998 with the debonair Rico Laxa besting Flores-Balgan in her first ever run.
Laxa though called it quits at the end of his single term and opted for an appointive post as head of the National Housing Authority at the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Whence the mayorship was handed to Flores on a silver platter. Which he, in turn, dutifully passed on to Flores-Balgan, true to dynastic tradition.
So, what gives now that with one more turn at the bat, the mayora is already being yanked out of the game?
He heard the people crying out for their champion Zorro, “ang tagapagtanggol ng naaapi" and he has no recourse but to come to their succor, Flores said.
"I told her to love the poor and the residents of Macabebe, but what happened is all the residents here became afraid of her," furthered Zorro, er, Flores.
Riposted the sister: "I am not a traditional politician. I want the people here to be progressive that's why I am bringing progress to the town."
And in a further dig at her elder’s tested ways: "Anong gusto nila, bigyan ko ng P50 araw-araw ang mga tao pagkatapos ng term ko pulubi pa rin sila? O bigyan ko sila ng edukasyon pagkatapos ng apat na taon kahit saan sila pumunta may kakayahan sila? (What do they want, that I give them P50 daily only to remain paupers after my term? Or that I provide them with education so that after four years they will have the capability, wherever they may go)." A teacher by profession, Flores-Balgan headed the family-owned Colegio de San Lorenzo in Macabebe.
A proxy war, the siblings are starting to wage against each other, some wag I heard saying.
Look who’s behind Flores – the Bondocs, 4^th District Rep. Rimpy and elder sister Ana York, his successor turned predecessor at the House.
See beyond Flores-Balgan and find the Pinedas, Gov. Lilia and Vice Gov. Delta.
Even before the 2016 campaign starts, not a few already foresee the 2019 gubernatorial contest as between Delta and Rimpy. Hence, the necessity of positioning the pawns in the chessboard at this early. Anyways…    
Notwithstanding political differences coming to the head, elder brother and younger sister have not severed familial bonds as yet.
Flores-Balgan said she never felt as sad in her whole political life as in facing her own kuya as rival, feeling so sorry that at his age he still had to go through the wringer of an election campaign: "At 73, he must be enjoying the serenity of life, like having coffee every afternoon." As was Flores’ wont around the coffeeshops at SM City Pampanga.
Flores added his own ad misericordiam argument to his running: his daughter fighting stage 4 breast cancer in the United States, to whom his “response to the call to serve anew” is dedicated. 
Beyond the attendant hypocritical civility and farcical drama, this is no simple sibling rivalry though. Of big bro merely wanting anew the lollipop little sis now holds. Make no mistake: This has blown up to some intra-family feud.
Note that Flores’ running mate is his very own son Vince. And Flores-Balgan has in her council line-up her own re-electing daughter with that all-too-fragile feminine name: Mary Claire Therese, but better known as the bad-boyish Bembong.  
Clear as day, the future of Macabebe politics laid out for all to see there. 
So Zorro rides again…off into the sunset, finally. Flores-Balgan is most surely hoping.
Now can rise the son though, and Flores-Balgan cannot be caught napping, propping her own daughter to meet any and all challenges her macho relatives can, may, and surely will, throw.
The dynastic wars have only just begun.  How Apung Inggo must be turning and tossing in the family mausoleum.