Thursday, April 19, 2007 Unfair for local officials to bear brunt of lampposts mess: Escudero
SENATORIAL candidate Francis Escudero challenges the administration to focus on its strengths instead of concentrating on the opposition’s weaknesses for the May 14 elections.
“Huwag sila mamintas ng kapwa. Sagutin nila ‘yong mga issues na dapat nila sagutin. (They should answer the issues that need answering instead of criticizing us),” Escudero said during a press conference in Cebu City yesterday morning.
The third-term Sorsogon congressman said the administration should instead ask itself why 10 million Filipinos earn less than US$1 a day.
He also addressed local issues, like the alleged overpricing of lamps bought for an international summit last January and the proposals to split Cebu into four provinces.
High places
Any decision on breaking up the province should rest on Cebuanos alone, Escudero said.
But unless the movement benefits Cebuanos and this is what they want, he will not support the split, he added.
As to the lampposts purchase, he said any anomaly couldn’t have happened without the involvement of people from the national offices.
Escudero pointed out the discrimination in preventively suspending local officials as a result of the mess, while national officials remain untouched by the controversy.
Among the bills Escudero filed in the House of Representatives were proposals to return to the National Government the basic health and agricultural services devolved to local government units.
He also filed in 2005 a resolution urging President Arroyo “to support a voluntary authentication” of the audio recording of her conversation with former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, at the height of the 2004 elections.
Should there be further attempts to impeach President Arroyo, Escudero said a lawmaker’s stand should not be defined by whether he belongs to the opposition or the administration party.
“The impeachment should be based on her conduct, not because you belong to the opposition, which made you pro-impeachment, or administration, which made you anti-impeachment,” he said.
One of the Genuine Opposition’s programs, Escudero said, is to reinforce constitutional provisions of check and balance in government, with the Senate acting as the people’s vanguard against abuses.
Escudero said he will not support any moves to push for Charter change. (Bai Hayde D. Quiñanola, STC Mass Comm intern)
