Polibiz
By Nelson C. Robles

Boy Mejorada will survive

He may have been wounded by the initial outburst of gunfire from a former mediaman who betrayed him for a few centavos, but Iloilo Provincial Administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada is definitely uncowed. The allegations aired by Lito Jimena, a former waiter in a downtown night club here before he was recruited by Danny Baby Foz to join him as utility boy in the defunct DYRP, against Mejorada will remain as allegations and hearsays meant to crush the spirit of the controversial Capitol factotum. Everybody knows who Jimena is and the people behind him: they are staunch anti-Gov. Niel D. Tupas characters who connived with some politicians and rascal anchormen to eliminate Mejorada from Capitol. If they succeed in neutralizing Mejorada, they believe it would be now easier to intimidate and harass Tupas and bring him down to his knees. They think Tupas is formidable only because of the strong shield put up by Mejorada. Hence, the smear campaign versus Mejorada.

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In my recent discussion with an Iloilo journalist who knows Boy Mejorada personally, he told me that Mejorada is not the type who will run away from a good fight. The recent so-called “expose” of Lito Jimena is definitely the kind of fight Boy would want to tangle with. Take note that Boy did not immediately react to the below-the-belt strike of Jimena and his unscrupulous backers. I must warn his attackers that the man has mastered the art of psychological warfare, and it is not easy to stymie him. If he was a pipitsugin , he could have raised the white flag with his tail waving vis-à-vis his more deadly adversaries in the House Committee on Good Government when the clowns threatened to arrest and jail him simply for speaking out his mind.

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Meanwhile, this was how the Iloilo journalist, in his very fair and honest-to-goodness description of Boy Mejorada: “Personally, I don't like the man (Mejorada) but I know he is not the type who will just retreat if he cannot stand the heat in the kitchen. He may have his own imperfections, but Boy does not play low blow against his enemies; you can't hear him use gutter language against his enemies even if he has all the opportunity to unmask them in his radio program and newspaper column.

“Many of his former colleagues in media do not like him either but it is because he is several notches higher than them in terms of credentials and intellectual prowess. His canine loyalty to Gov. Niel Tupas has made a lot of observers jealous of him.

“Most of those who want to eject him from the graces of Gov. Tupas are the so-called ‘best friends' of the governor since way back in the 1950's. They are composed of ambitious of intellectually-impaired morons who always wanted to make a quick one at the expense of the governor but were so crude their nefarious intentions were easily uncovered by the governor.

“Hence, they fell from the graces of the governor. And they vented their ire on the hapless Boy Mejorada whose only sin was that he would always provide for the governor all the knowledge and information he needed especially when answering questions from media and in representing the governor in various speaking engagements where the governor did not need to tap a speechwriter.

“Boy Mejorada is the man most people love to hate because of his guts and propensity to absorb all the atomic bombs thrown as his boss' way. He was also called names for defending his former boss (TESDA director Boboy Syjuco) but managed to survive the mobsters who wanted his neck.

“I bet my last centavo that Boy Mejorada will again be able to overcome this latest challenge in his life. And Gov. Tupas will reward him more for picking up the cudgels for him, for staying by his side even if everyone was already on the verge of calling it quits.”