Manny Pacquiao may be a genius in the ring, but he's definitely not showing a lot of intelligence in politics. His decision to leave Aquino's Liberal Party (where he was never wanted) after the Bureau of Internal Revenue demanded that he explain his supposedly shrinking income should accelerate the process somewhat, though.

Pacquiao's party-hopping aside, perhaps the neophyte politician-boxer should also explain why he is no longer an opponent of the reproductive health bill, as he was early on. How true is it that Pacman was the subject of intense pressure to turn pro-RH, not only in the Philippines but also by authorities in the United States?

Pacquiao, if he wants to go far in his quest for ever-higher public office, needs the political equivalent of a Freddie Roach to advise him, instead of the usual yes-men who surround him 24/7. He can't hope to be a political butterfly and not expect to get stung by a bee.

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Okay, so Vice President Jejomar Binay himself has confirmed that he's probably going to part ways with President Noynoy Aquino for the simple (and perfectly obvious) reason that he and the Chief Executive have different political parties. That should be easy enough to understand – unless you're Aquino.

But the flap over Binay staying or going only shows how hard it is to be a spokesman of Malacanang Palace: you say one thing that's perfectly logical and the very next day your boss says the exact opposite. And if Abigail Valte had any sense of pride (or some other job that she could find), she would have left yesterday.

Of course, Valte is probably not leaving her job, any more than Energy Secretary Rene Almendras is expected to resign after thoroughly messing up the power crisis in Mindanao. Because the officials of the Aquino administration are, for the most part, nobodies even in their previous careers before joining government, they never had it so good since President Noynoy Aquino plucked them out of obscurity.

When President Noynoy Aquino assembled his team of non-achievers, after all, he was not looking for the best and the brightest, as many more secure Chief Executives have done. He was looking to give jobs to his friends.

And having quickly exhausted his pool of former classmates, shooting buddies and the like, all of whom were distinguished only by their loyalty to him and their mediocrity in their previous jobs, he tapped people like Valte, who will take abuse like being contradicted in public without so much as a whimper of protest.

On the other hand, the few accomplished people who somehow make it into Team Mediocrity, as the Aquino's officialdom should rightly be called, don't last long. That's what happened to Gus Lagman, the only person with IT smarts to ever get appointed into the Commission on Elections and a respected consultant and entrepreneur before joining goverment.

Lagman's extensive background in infotech probably convinced him to oppose the purchase of P1.8 billion worth of counting machines used in the 2010 elections. Smartmatic's precinct count optical scan machines were the subject of a lot of complaints that have been drowned out, quite naturally, by the people swept into power by them.

And then there are those who did distinguish themselves prior to joining the Aquino administration like Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, but who have apparently decided that they would do a lot better if they blindly followed the boss' line and just sold out. De Lima's pursuit of former Comelec Chairman Bejamin Abalos using two witnesses who had disappeared after being sanctioned for committing various election-related anomalies. De Lima's suborning of the two Mindanao election officials, who were offered clean bills of health if they turned against Abalos (who wanted them punished), is simply mind-blowing – even for a former Arroyo functionary.

As for Abigail Valte, perhaps she will finally understand that telling the truth (or even pointing out the painfully obvious) isn't really her job. And if she really thinks she will not find better work elsewhere, she should just stop making even perfectly sane and logical conclusions like the fact that Binay is headed for a split with Aquino simply because both of them have their own political parties.

Aquino, of course, disagrees with his spokesman. And Valte, for some reason, still goes to work for him.

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A senator allied with the powers-that-be must have been so inspired by the tales he heard during the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona that he recently went out and bought two condo units in a new development along Shaw Boulevard. The two loft units are supposedly valued at P7 million each.

While the purchase of the two condos may have thrilled the senator no end, he still is a newbie, after all. Compared to how a like-minded colleague of his was able to somehow purchase – through an in-law – a posh residence at super-swank North Forbes valued in the hundreds of millions, the two Shaw lofts must look like low-cost housing for lowly government workers.

Oh, wait. The condo-buying senator used to be a lowly government worker himself.

But perhaps we should give this guy some time to catch up. He may not really be known as a quick study, but perhaps he'll show some heretofore undiscovered aptitude in the field of real estate accumulation.*