POWER struggle is vicious because it only ends when one is banished until the cycle starts all over again when a new challenger comes to prove dominance over the old one. Power corrupts and can turn a meek one into a monster. It can make father and son turn against each other like the Villafuertes of Camarines Sur, Cong. Luis R. Villafuerte and Gov. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, that at present are making history to be the first father and son political rivals in Bicol wrestling dominance from each other.

        The Villafuertes had made history in Camarines Sur being the first political clan to have taken over the reign of provincial government from the father to the son in 2004. This made the Villafuertes the most dominant political clan in Bicol. With the political tandem of governor and congressman, all allies of the present administration, the Villafuertes are among the most favored local politicians.

        Being the most dominant and powerful political clan in Camarines Sur, the Villafuertes have no one else to challenge but themselves, which can be fatal to their political interest aside from being scandalously uncommon in this part of the country.

        By all indications, from what one could read between the lines from the statements of the elder Villafuerte, the cause of conflict was that of the younger Villafuerte’s disobedience and defiance to his father. This is a general reading of the cause of conflict that can be personal and political in nature but within the line of assertion of dominance of a father to a son.

        As the scandal unfolds before the eyes of the public, one can perceive two differing personalities in terms of tact, even as both father and son carry the same genes in their blood. On the one hand, vocal and blunt, the elder Villafuerte is transparently open to negative perceptions as he delivers his verbal offensives against the younger Villafuerte and his allies. On the other hand, the younger Villafuerte maintains a silent stance as if following an old ethical norm that one must never talk back to a father.

        But these differing stances are representations of strategies to convince the public who between the warring father and son is doing the right thing to achieve an edge in the on-going power struggle in the province.

        The worst in this power struggle between the elder and the younger Villafuerte is yet to come when their respective candidates formally file their intention to run in the local elections. In the horizon, the political landscape in Camarines Sur is taking a phenomenal turn with the two Villafuertes leading a major political divide.

        The viciousness of power struggle is as old as the written history and literature of mankind. One could be reminded of Oedipus Rex as the power struggle of the two Villafuertes rages. Oedipus, who grew up without knowing his father, slew his father and married his mother and grabbed the throne to become a king.

        Figuratively speaking, the two Villafuertes are like the characters of the Oedipus Rex as they battle each other to gain dominance in the province. But it’s the other way around here because it’s the elder Villafuerte who had never known his son politically who could be so bold to defy and disobey that the latter is challenged to openly declare war against his own blood.

        But one thing can be made out of this kind of power struggle that’s happening in Camarines Sur---one political clan, the Villafuertes, still dictates the political trend. When the smoke clears after the political battle, the two Villafuertes could still be standing tall while their minions are wasted as part of the ‘collateral damage’ of the power struggle between father and son.