Friday, September 29, 2006 Kintanar moving to Lakas-NUCD from NPC
ONE of the proponents of the bills seeking to split Cebu into four provinces has joined the administration’s Lakas-NUCD party, a move that could block plans for the party to oppose the bills.
That’s according to Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar, who said that other party members may refuse to take a stand against the proposals, now that Rep. Simeon Kintanar (Cebu, 2nd district) has become an ally.
Kintanar admitted that he joined the party upon the invitation of the party president, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, but said it wasn’t meant to block the plan of coming up with a party stand against the bills.
Kintanar has proposed the conversion of his district into the province of Cebu del Sur.
He pointed out that when he first joined politics in 1998, he was a member of Lakas, but he later transferred to the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Kintanar served as head of the National Telecommunications Commission during the administration of former president Fidel Ramos, one of the original members of Lakas.
Reps. Antonio Yapha (Cebu, 3rd district) and Clavel Martinez (Cebu, 4th district) have also filed separate bills seeking to make their districts into Cebu Occidental and Cebu del Norte, respectively.
Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco has said that if Rep. Emilio Macias, chairman of the House committee on local government, continues to railroad the passage of the bills, he will call on the Lakas-NUCD to come up with a stand opposing the bills.
As the majority party in Congress, Lakas-NUCD wields a lot of influence.
Cuenco and Macias almost traded blows when the local government committee met last Wednesday, because Macias refused to tackle the motion for reconsideration that was filed after the committee approved all three bills.
But in a radio dyLA interview yesterday, both Cuenco and Macias said they do not bear a grudge against each other.
Macias apologized for what happened, but he clarified that asking for an apology does not mean he admitted he did anything wrong.
Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia, who witnessed the hearing, said it was Macias who was the aggressor, but that it would be up to Cuenco to bring the matter to the committee on ethics.
Reps. Eduardo Gullas, Ramon Durano VI, Cuenco and del Mar wrote to Rep. Prospero Nograles, who chairs the committee on rules, asking him not to schedule the three bills for plenary discussion until their motion for reconsideration is resolved.
Cuenco said that if Macias continues to block the motion for reconsideration, it means the three bills aren’t likely to reach the plenary soon.
“The bills are now in limbo. Naa na sa purgatoryo ilang bills,” Cuenco said.
If these will not be tackled until the last session of the 13th Congress, these will have to be filed again. Kintanar, Martinez and Yapha are all on their third consecutive term, though, and barred from seeking reelection in 2007. (MBG)
