Chiz gets better with age

The last time I wrote about Chiz Escudero was in the 2010 election season, his first attempt in getting a Presidential bid off the ground which never got past Ambassador Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, chieftain of his party the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

While I branded his efforts then as “stinky”, a play with words with his lactose-inspired nickname, it seems like the Senator from Bicol has mellowed with age, just like good wine and cheese.

 

A more mellow Chiz? Seems so.

It seems that the arrogance of youth that caused so much discord between Chiz and the party has left, and a more circumspect and politically sensitive Senator has developed in these past five years.

Just consider his recent actions. Instead of just jumping into any situation and commenting on any and everything he could get his hands on – including an intriguing possible dalliance with the great national pastime, Kris Aquino – Chiz has kept his slick, monotone sound bites to a minimum, concentrating on relevant issues of the day. He even handled his much publicized wedding with Heart Evangelista with much dignity, avoiding engaging the scandal-driven entertainment media in the subject of his in-laws, a matter quietly resolved.

In this chapter of his political life Chiz has made clear but simple gestures towards his Vice Presidential plans, being specific that it is with and is support of Grace Poe.  Simultaneous with the announcement he resigned his position as chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. That should have been the perfect venue to raise campaign funds and political horse trading. It is where the government and private financial institutions get their juice, and the P3 trillion government budget – including those with spurious acrnyms like PDAF. DAP and whatever else they decide to call the same animal – gets played with.

Speaking of PDAF, Chiz pushed for its abolition since 2013 with Senate Resolution 193. His senate office has not received any PDAF since then, with the 2014 budget and those that have been released went only to two basic projects: hospitals and public markets. In fact, a complete tally can be seen in his site http://www.chizescudero.com.

Now I won’t go into this guy’s bio or his career build up. All of that won’t likely change anyway from that time we did out little critique in 2010.

But the Chiz who rallied the youth vote in his early political career simply because he was a dead ringer for a pop-rock icon seems like he has outgrown his youthful exuberance for the better. What we see emerging now is hopefully along the lines of his father, the late Salvador Escudero, a revered public servant.