Friday, January 12, 2007 Guv-aspirant Pineda to submit to 'more able' candidate By Albert B. Lacanlale
MEXICO -- Explaining that their family is not greedy for power, Pampanga Second District Board Member Lilia "Baby" Pineda said she is willing to give way to a more capable candidate who is willing to run against Governor Mark Lapid.
Pineda, who earlier expressed her intention to run for the province's chief executive post, said she is only offering herself as an alternative in the coming election promising of a renewed kind of leadership at the Capitol.
Pineda, wife of suspected jueteng lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda, had been identified as a staunch supporter of the Lapids. However, just recently, she, along with 17 mayors in the province, declared that they would launch a campaign to topple the Lapids from the Capitol.
The Lapids have been leading Pampanga for almost 13 years. Senator Manuel "Lito" Lapid, prior to being elected to the national office, had been a three-term governor of the province. His son, Mark, was named as the youngest provincial governor in the country when he beat seasoned politicians in the 2004 elections.
The board member, speaking in front of about 4,000 individuals at the Mexico Municipal Gym on Tuesday, challenged the local folk to look for a more suitable candidate who could lead the province to progress and she would whole-heartedly give way.
"If you could name a candidate who could honestly serve the province, I would support him or her," Pineda told the people who attended the assembly.
As if they were alarmed that Pineda might not run, the residents shouted back, "We cannot find anybody capable than you!"
Pineda, who was for the first-time not teary-eyed compared with the other consultations her group have had in the past, said her foremost plan for the province is the improvement of medical facilities to serve the 1.7 million Kapampangans.
