AS we were going to press yesterday, black Barack Obama (Democrat) was winning against his white Republican opponent, John McCain, within a few hours after the close of the November 4 US presidential election. With 338 electoral votes against McCain’s 155, he had far exceeded the 270 needed to win.

Lucky Obama. Even his misfortune of losing his grandmother to cancer on election day must have drawn a lot of sympathy votes for him.

In conceding defeat, McCain even lamented that Barack’s grandma had not lived to witness the victory of his grandson.

Now we know that there’s no truth to the rumor that GMA had sent Garci to the USA to work for McCain.

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McCain had the misfortune of being party mate of President George Bush, whom the Americans blame for the current economic meltdown and waste of public funds in the Iraq war.

On the other hand, Obama and his running mate Joe Bidden had capitalized on that misfortune. If most white Americans voted for them, it was partly because of their desire to end racism in the United States. They have made history by electing a black president for the first time.

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Some of the Obama fans, however, can’t help but feel sad for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the beautiful vice-presidential mate of McCain, because it was not possible for Obama and Palin to win together. In the USA, the winning presidential candidate always pulls his running mate along.

If Palin were the Republican presidential candidate, I would have cast my invalid vote for her instead of Obama for a different “first” in history: She would be the first woman president of the USA .

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Malacañang hands off on Joc-joc Bolante?

That’s how “garapal” the palace propagandists have become. By any stretch of imagination, Malacañang has always masterminded the escape of Bolante from the Senate probe of the P728-million fertilizer scam.

Let us recall that it was way back in October 2005 when the Senate committee on agriculture chaired by then Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. summoned Bolante for an inquiry into the fertilizer fund controversy. Instead of showing up, Bolante flew to Los Angeles, California. Knowing that the trip had the blessing of Malacañang, Magsaysay sought the intervention of the US Embassy.

Bolante, on the other hand, applied for political asylum.

The US Embassy in Manila cancelled Bolante’s visa. As a result – better late than never — on July 7, 2006, the US immigration officials arrested Bolante on the ground of a nullified non-immigrant B1/B2 visa. Bolante was held at the San Pedro Detention Center on Terminal Island, 48 kilometers from Los Angeles, then transferred to the Kenosha Rehabilitation Center in Wisconsin. Worse, a US immigration court, in February 2007, rejected his petition for political asylum with the observation that “the core of Bolante’s fear is, in fact, a fear of prosecution for his alleged role in a corruption scandal.”

It is unthinkable that the United States would deport an illegal immigrant without issuing a medical bulletin on his health. In practice, Uncle Sam does not deport an alien without first attending to his health problem.

Hence, it is very probable that the physical “rerouting” of Jocjoc to St. Luke’s Hospital instead of the waiting Senate upon his arrival at the airport had been Malacañang-directed.

Ironically, if Joc-joc has indeed developed heart disease, it could be due to fear of Malacañang – not the Senate – for knowing too much. He is in danger of being “erased” by the very people for whose election the P728-m fertilizer budget was diverted in 2004.

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At first, I could hardly believe the story that handsome Tito Lopez – only son of former Congressman Albertito Lopez and Governor Emily Lopez – had challenged our editor, Francis Angelo, to a fight.

The last time I talked to him many months ago, he sounded very sane. He was always in the company of Pavia Mayor Arcadio Gorriceta, with whom he intended to construct a mall at the Pavia public transportation terminal. Tito’s family owns that lot.

Is he a victim of frustration over failure to raise funds to build such a mall?

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On a cable TV-radio program, Mayor Gorriceta lashed out anew at the Syjuco couple — TESDA Secretary Boboy and 2nd District Congresswoman Judy – for the delay in the concreting of the Pagsangaan-Tigum-Cabugao Norte road despite partial release of funds through the congresswoman.

The ball is already in the hands of the DPWH, Mr. Mayor. You are barking up the wrong tree.

If he is wondering why Sec. Boboy Syjuco has ignored his attacks, the man is very busy sending vocational scholars to the training centers, if only to fill the need for well-paid welders, carpenters, masons, plumbers, cooks and caregivers abroad. And Pavianhons are among these scholars.

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