Cuenco: Win some, lose some

It is true what media colleague lawyer Frank Malilong said about former Cebu City south district congressman Antonio “Tony” Cuenco who announced his retirement from politics last week—it is not easy talking about the politician in the past tense.

Having been in power for more than four decades, Tony is very much a part of the local political scene.  His psychological presence in Cebu politics is so strong that even if he is out of power and miles away, the administration party needs to consider not just his opinion but his sensibilities as well.

As a teenager growing up in the province in the mid ‘60s, I already heard about Tony Cuenco and his outstanding performance in the House of Representatives.  Possessing good looks and a keen intellect, he caught the eye of political observers and press people during those times.

His political career looked promising but fortunately or unfortunately in 1969, he was in league with the Liberal Party then led by the charismatic former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. who was at odds with then president Ferdinand Marcos.  Tony avoided colliding with the Nacionalista Party juggernaut in the 1969 election by leaving his old district and transferring to another but he still suffered a debacle.

In 1978 or six years after Marcos declared martial law, Tony ran and lost again in his bid for a seat in the Interim Batasang Pambansa under the Marcos party Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. The regional opposition party Pusyon Bisaya (PB) made a clean sweep of the regional assembly amid speculation that Marcos engineered the PB’s success to demonstrate that he allowed democratic elections under the military regime.

Tony vindicated himself after the assassination of Ninoy in 1983.  He was a regular in the so-called parliament of the streets along with other popular opposition leaders like the late Nenita “Inday Nita” Cortes Daluz.

At the height of the anti-Marcos demonstrations after the 1986 snap elections, Tony and his wife Nancy risked their lives as they provided cover for Corazon Aquino who was in Cebu at the time the military withdrew support from Marcos.

His courage came to the fore in 2001 when he opened a legislative hearing about the drug situation in Cebu. As chairman of the House committee on illegal drugs, Tony took center stage in the probe in which two local prominent businessmen were placed under close scrutiny.

The House panel did all it could to go to the bottom of the drug trafficking issue but as the probe got underway, it became evident that the Philippine National Police and other related agencies did not want to cooperate.  The 2002 House committee report exonerated businessmen Peter and Wellington Lim from drug trafficking charges but their names remained in the PNP’s Order of Battle.

Tony’s high profile handling of the House investigation gave him a lot of press. There was criticism hurled against his “hearings in aid of elections” but this did not deter him from authoring the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

There had been plenty of challengers in the south district ever since he first won it in 1987.  To allow him to skip the constitutional ban against running for a fourth consecutive term, his wife Nancy ran in his stead in 1998.  He regained the Congress seat in 2001and held it until 2010.

His grip of the district seat owes to his alliances with the national administration and the local party Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) led by former Cebu City Mayor now incumbent south district congressman Tomas Osmeña. Their relationship turned sour in 2008.

Tony stood on the right side of history when he supported calls for the impeachment and ouster of former president Joseph Estrada in 2000. He later became part of Gloria Arroyo’s Lakas Nationalist Union of Christian Democrats. With Tony’s buddy, Jose de Venecia, Jr. as House Speaker, the Cebuano lawmaker emerged as one of Congress’ ranked members from 2001 to 2010.

Survival in the context of political realities leaps out of Tony’s interesting career. He is a seasoned politician, one who is able to read the political climate and adapt to it.

Nobody lives this life with marked cards, according to my favorite author Paulo Coelho, and that holds true for Tony, who has won significant battles and lost some.