Magpale should assert her right
-A A +ASunday, October 28, 2012
CEBU Provincial Board members who are now with the Liberal Party (LP), including Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, are not yet ready to engage Gov. Gwen Garcia in a “political confrontation.” I came up with this observation based on their reaction to the governor’s recent activities. The governor is controlling Capitol funds and using these as leverage to propel the candidacy of One Cebu Party’s gubernatorial bet Rep. Pablo John Garcia, her brother, and his runningmate, former Danao City vice mayor Ramon “Boboy” Durano IV.
When sought for comment about Gwen’s indiscriminate distribution of financial assistance to various local government units and barangays, Magpale just said: “Okey lang kung ang gobernador maoy mohatag basta maabot lang sa mga hingtungdan.” What kind of an answer is that? The funds distributed by Gwen came from the appropriations of the vice governor’s office under the Legislative Assistance Funds and the vice governor has the right and the discretion where and how to dispose of it. Magpale should start asserting her right and so should her allies.
Gwen is getting all the credit. Names of PB members are not mentioned during the distribution. The beneficiaries think that the funds come from Gwen. Is that fair? My advice to Magpale and other LP members, they should draw the line now. Morag sa akong paminaw, nagpangikog pa ni sila gumikan kay kaalyado sila ni Gwen sa One Cebu Party kaniadto. Ang nakaporke god aning Magpale morag inahanon gihapon ang iyang pagkapulitiko. Dili gusto’g away. She should play the role of being a member of a real opposition, not a half-baked one.
Gwen is literally insulting Magpale and the PB members. She bypassed their role and rights to distribute their allocated Provincial Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to their constituents. Why don’t they scrutinize Gwen’s indiscriminate release of funds?
It looks as if the money comes from her own pocket?
Look at the Cebu City Council. The Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) stalwarts who dominate the council are always on the lookout for Mayor Mike Rama’s every move. But they don’t play too much politics, they’re just being fiscalizers.
Since LP members already dominate the PB, they should scrutinize the budget proposed by the Office of the Governor for next year. There might be unnecessary appropriations. They should scrutinize the hiring of consultants and the publicity machinery of the governor. She might again ask for a huge budget for her Sugbo TV and Sugbo News, which she is using as her personal publicity relations machinery.
They should remember that it is election time and Gwen has the advantage of being able to use Capitol funds for her and her brother’s political interests. My suggestion is, if possible, they should only approve half of the budget and let the next governor and the next composition of the PB pass the remaining half. That way, they can “clip” Gwen’s indiscriminate spending. Di kaha ni maoy maayo?
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How true is the information that South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña will also distribute new sports utility vehicles to barangay captains allied with him. This is to counter Mayor Mike Rama’s move. Just recently, Rama distributed new SUVs to barangay officials allied with him. Rama’s move is part of his political strategy to gain the support of barangay leaders.
If this is true, where did Osmeña get the funding to purchase the vehicles? Was the money taken from his pork barrel or from his campaign fund contributors? If it did come from his PDAF, then it was not a priority. Mas daghan pang angayan gastuhan si Tomas diha sa iyang distrito kay sa mamalit ug mga luhong sakyanan alang sa iyang mga kaalyadong mga kapitan.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 29, 2012.
Opinion
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