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Saturday, December 27, 2003
Oca: I convinced Curging to run for board member
GUBERNATORIAL aspirant 1st District Rep. Oscar Garin said it was him who convinced his former colleague in the House Licurgo Tirador to run for board member in the 3rd District to enable them to strengthen their campaign against the reelection bid of Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. in the 2004 elections.
"I proposed to him to run for board member. I told him his experience will be useful to province and there's no need to campaign. I also told him that he can really help me so he settled for that," Garin said in an Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo interview.
The congressman, who is running under the ruling Lakas-CMD, however, admitted that 3rd District Rep. Arthur Defensor, provincial chairman of Lakas-CMD, actually warned him that Tirador may feel slighted with the proposal for him to run for board member as he has occupied much higher posts before.
He was once a governor, a congressman and a mayor of Pototan.
Earlier, Tirador declared to become the "Third Force" in the gubernatorial race as he would have the backing of presidentiable Raul Roco's Aksyon Demokratiko.
Garin then welcomed his gubernatorial bid but Tupas admitted that Tirador's entry could definitely affect his candidacy considering that Tirador is influential in the 3rd District.
The three were once together in the House of Representatives.
But Garin said Tirador decided to settle for board member as he believes he could help him defeat Tupas.
Garin disclosed that Tirador earlier told him that his "primary objective" in joining the gubernatorial race is to "defeat Tupas".
He said, however, that he told Tirador that running against him and Tupas will not serve his purpose as both he and the governor already have a headstart in the campaign.
Tirador, Garin said, first proposed that he run for vice governor under him but he said he told him that he has already committed to have Vice Gov. Roberto Armada as his runningmate.
After he informed him that Armada will definitely pursue his reelection bid with him, Tirador decided to run for board member instead.
Long-time ally
Tirador's move to join Garin's camp surprised political observers as the former is considered as Tupas' long-time ally. He even served as one of the governor's consultants.
Tirador ran for congressman in the 3rd District in 2001 under Tupas' and Senate President Franklin Drilon's party. He, however, lost to Defensor.
But that 2001 experience was actually a sad one for Tirador.
Garin said Tirador told him that Tupas and Drilon practically abandoned him when they failed to deliver the financial support they promised him.
Tupas only gave him P100,000, Garin said, not the millions he promised. Drilon contributed a measly P80,000 for Tirador's campaign.
At least, he said, Tirador told him that he got the P250,000 promised by 5th District Rep. Rolex Suplico.
Garin said Tirador was no longer interested in joining politics in 2001 with Defensor as his opponent. But because of Tupas' and Drilon's continuous prodding and assurance of financial support, he decided to give it a try.
But in the end, he never got the promised financial support.
Garin said that Tirador even had to mortgage his house and lot in Manila for P3 million to get funding during the previous elections.
He has not redeemed it until now, he added. NLG
(December 27, 2003 issue)
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