Tuesday, December 18, 2007 Panlilio apologizes to PB
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio apologized to the Provincial Board (PB) for his failure to attend the hearing for the 2008 provincial budget at the Capitol here on Monday.
Panlilio admitted confirming his attendance to the budget hearing to defend the executive department's proposed budget.
However, he said he was advised not to attend by his allies, as there has been no single instance in the Philippines where the chief executive -- be it the President, governor or mayor -- personally defended his or her budget.
Panlilio said he neither had any intention to offend nor to show disrespect to the August body for not attending the deliberation for the 2008 budget.
"We extend our apologies to Vice Governor Joseller Guiao and the honorable members of the Board if they were offended by my absence this morning at the special session we requested for the presentation and defense of the executive budget. There was no intention whatsoever to offend, much less to disrespect the August body," Panlilio said.
The governor said he was prevailed upon by his allies to desist from attending the hearing despite his earlier request for the re-scheduling of the proceedings and instead sent assistant provincial legal officer Joseph Quiambao.
"The person we sought to represent us unfortunately called in sick. In our desire to allow the process to continue, we sent Joseph Quiambao, in her stead. We also apologize for whatever distress this has caused," Panlilio added, saying he was inspecting Gugu creek in Bacolor town while the hearing was being conducted.
The governor was referring to provincial budget officer Nida Manalad as the person Panlilio had originally assigned to represent him in the hearing.
The PB headed by Vice Governor Joseller Guiao intends to finalize the 2008 budget amounting to P1.1 billion in the presence of the governor. (MHD)
