Saturday, October 25, 2008 Dabu: ‘I will stay until Guv fires me’ By Jovi T. De Leon
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- So called the Capitol’s “Guardian of the Gates” by many provincial employees and leaders of the “silent majority,” Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu on Thursday morning declared: “I will continue to work here until the governor ‘fires’ me or asks me to resign.”
Dabu, reacting to the recent statement of Kaya Natin! Movement leader Harvey Keh said “it all depends on Governor Eddie Panlilio if he will transfer me to another department or fires me.”
Recently, Keh said he and other Kaya Natin! members have advised Panlilio to “let go” of Dabu or transfer her to another department if he wants to put an end to the controversies hounding him and the snowballing of problems at the Capitol.
But Panlilio has remained steadfast in his decision to retain the provincial administrator at her post, saying, “I am satisfied and contended with the performance and services of Dabu,” adding, “she is very efficient, incorruptible and competent as a capitol executive.”
For her part, Dabu said she respects the “opinion” of Keh and the other Kaya Natin! members.
Dabu has since withstood calls for her resignation by her detractors from civil society groups and the protesting sacked quarrymen of the Biyaya A Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas).
“For the meantime,” she said, “I will continue to do my job and carry on the functions of provincial administrator.”
Dabu said she and Panlilio are bent on pursuing the libel and slander charges they filed against the Balas protesters two weeks ago. She said contrary to rumors that “they seem to be just joking and threatening” the protesters with the charges because they (the four main respondents and the 45 other accused) have not received a copy of the complaint.
“It will be up to the Prosecutor’s Office to do that. It might be that they will be sent through registered mail addressed specifically to their residences. But they will surely receive their copy,” Dabu said.
Dabu also decried former casual employee Roperlee’s Syquia’s recent reply to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) regarding the complaint the resigned social services aide alleging that she was “corrupt.”
Dabu said her counter charges against Syquia are factually based on the “incompetence” he manifested during his term as a Capitol employee and member of Panlilio’s confidence team.
“There was no corruption there. I entrusted him with that job and all the responsibilities that go with it. But he betrayed my trust with so much incompetence and incapabilities,” she said, adding that “he should also refrain from attacking my personal life. He has even included what he thought was a change in my lifestyle since I became provincial administrator, like treating him and other people at Java Man for lunches. I had been doing that, and have been a familiar face at that coffee shop since I was engaged in private practice, long before I came to the Capitol,” she said.
Dabu also reminded Syquia about his personal attacks: “He might have forgotten that he personally still owes me P12,000 from my own pocket, which I just couldn’t remember exactly now if it was used to buy a phone or for his father’s medical needs.”
