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Sunday, March 07, 2004
Oro mayor not loyal to Arroyo: critics
MAYOR Vicente Y. Emano and his entire slate are running under the Lakas-CMD banner but the mayor announced he would not support and vote straight for all 12 Lakas-CMD senatorial bets.
This came with reports on how the mayor's loyalty to Lakas-CMD standard-bearer President Arroyo has been publicly questioned these past weeks.
A close aide of opposition political officer Rufus Rodriguez disclosed Thursday that Emano is now sending them more feelers.
He said this had become evident especially now that Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.'s citizenship has been settled by the High Court last Wednesday night.
During an interview with radio station dxCL, a caller asked Emano whom he would be supporting aside from President Arroyo in this May Elections.
The mayor answered that he would be supporting vice-presidential bet Noli de Castro but that he is not going to vote for the entire Lakas-CMD senators.
"My loyalty is only to President Arroyo," he said.
Not 100 percent
He explained he would also be casting his support for other senators in the opposition parties like KNP senatorial bet Mayor Fred Lim among many others.
The mayor also hinted perhaps there would be more opposition senatorial candidates in his campaign support list as compared to those in the Lakas-CMD.
"Isa lang kana si Mayor Lim naa pay daghan di ko lang usa nganlan," he said. (Mayor Lim is just one of those opposition senators I will be supporting there are still several others but I will not name them as yet.)
This announcement caused several Lakas-CMD local supporters to voice fears that indeed Emano is not exactly 100 percent loyal to President Arroyo.
"For if Emano is for President Arroyo he would support not just a few of her candidates but also the entire Lakas-CMD line-up. Lakas-CMD is not for President Arroyo to win alone but for everyone to help in including the senatorial bets," one said in Visayan.
These supporters who requested anonymity told Sun.Star that Emano has no sense of gratitude for the Lakas-CMD, the party banner whom he and his entire slate are using to boost their chances of winning in the elections.
They said they know how Emano have requested their Lakas-CMD office for nomination forms to be submitted together with their certificates of candidacy to the local Commission on Elections (Comelec-Cagayan de Oro) last Jan. 5.
"Emano and his entire slate are running under Lakas-CMD not PaDayon Pilipino as that is not a political party just look at the Comelec records it shows how this is true," one supporter said.
Political butterfly
This paper has already acquired records that Emano is indeed running under Lakas-CMD banner.
To another Lakas-CMD supporter, Emano could have been slighted for not being made the regional head of their party in Region 10 but Lanao del Norte congressman Bobby Dimaporo.
But former Mayor Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. said Thursday this is Emano's way of trying to save his skin.
"He's building bridges to use to cross over when it suits his opportunistic self and no longer finds GMA useful to protect his butt versus suspension and jail," he said.
Among other several cases, Emano is currently facing plunder charges, 18 counts of graft and corruption.
He is also facing ten counts of human rights violations for the ten suspects three of whom were minors that he had ordered to be paraded around the city streets wearing placards saying they are "Snatchers" or "Akyat Bahay".
Former city councilor Atty. Roy Raagas who is seeking re-election said this just shows what kind of a "political butterfly" Emano is.
"Vintage Dongkoy. Pula-Puti. Way klaro. Angay siya kasab-an sa tanan kandidato sa K4 kay wala sila ka siguro support ni Emano. True to form. Bali-bali kung asa ka pabor," he said.
"That reinforces rumor nga dunay mga efforts si Emano nga gusto mag FPJ aron angkon gihapon niya ang credit kung daug si FPJ diri sa CDO bisan dili niya hago kay dumadaog man gyud FPJ diri," he added.
On several occasions last week, Emano's loyalty to President Arroyo has been questioned in public through several radio stations.
There was even one report from dxIF Bombo Radyo that President Arroyo sent Emano a text message that contained how the mayor is set to jump ship to the KNP camp using his congressman Constantino Jaraula as his broker.
Jaraula and KNP leader Senator Ed Angara were classmates during their Law School years.
But the mayor dismissed this saying these were just black propaganda to put him in a bad light. LJA
(March 5, 2004 issue)
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