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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Editorial: Capitol salvo
MISAMIS Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno wasn't being prescient when he stated during the State of the Province Address (SOPA) that the clouds of politics are now hovering over the horizon because of the six-month run up to next year's elections.
The statement rang true amid a report that several town executives are planning to file charges against him in relation to the alleged findings of "irregularities" done by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The source of the report was former Misamis Oriental Governor Antonio Calingin who lost -- allegedly by cheating as he claimed -- to Moreno in the last elections and whom Moreno blames for allegedly introducing a "culture of corruption" in the Provincial Capitol.
Some people would easily dismiss this report as nothing but politicking and they would point to the fact that among the provincial officials who proposed for the creation of a special committee to investigate the COA findings was Provincial Board (PB) Member Alejo Olano, a known Calingin ally in the last elections.
Further laying some basis for that view is Calingin's disclosure that the local executives are only waiting for word from Mayor Vicente Emano, Padayon Pilipino party founder, on whether to proceed with the charges or not. Emano had been playing a guessing game of sorts with the opposition concerning his plans to run for the gubernatorial post or not.
All these angles make for admittedly interesting shop talk and fodder for the latest round of political speculation for those with an appetite for local politics who are usually seen hanging around in coffee shops and other exclusive establishments in the city.
But the priority remains on whether or not those who plan to pursue the charges have any solid legal ground on which to stand on. True, there are some questionable items raised by COA regarding how the Capitol spends its allocations, notably its statement that the administration is "overstating its assets and properties" and understating its expenditures.
But one has to admit that these items don't necessarily compare to the allegations of overspending and irregularities supposedly done by the previous administration during its two-term run at the Capitol. Charges like using Capitol equipment for personal use in one's farm, the misuse of government vehicles, and so on.
Then again one has to think whether the Moreno administration will encounter similar accounting problems with the COA in the event that it does get a new mandate from the people of Misamis Oriental in the next elections.
What is readily apparent right now is that Emano is playing his usual brand of divisive local politics by using the recent COA findings to make another snipe at Moreno with whom he is supposedly engaged in a "cold war" of sorts.
The bottom line here is whether these local officials are sincere and committed to pursuing these charges or are merely going through the motions and playing to the Misamisnons in order to score political points and further enhance their position for 2007.
Otherwise their pronouncements may only be a waste of time on the public's part who are concerned with more urgent things like daily survival and can't afford the luxury of paying attention to grandstanding politicos.
(July 19, 2006 issue)
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