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Sunday, December 28, 2003
GMA not FPJ, says JDV
By Alfred Navarro
UPSET by a recent headline story that announced an early bandwagon for presidential aspirant, movie actor Fernando Poe, Jr., the administration Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, led by Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., called on party leaders in the province to go all-out and reverse the polling trend in favor of President Arroyo.
De Venecia, along with Congressmen Amado Espino, Jr. (2nd dist.), Arthur Celeste (1st dist) and Generoso Tulagan (3rd dist), and Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino, Lakas provincial chair, assured to poll a landslide win in the party's known bailiwick and elsewhere in northern Luzon where the united opposition's standard bearer is expected to whip up an avalanche of votes.
Former Ilocos Sur gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson vowed to give the opposition a "black-eye" in the May elections.
"Ronnie is a good friend but we need an experienced leader," he said.
"They must be crazy," De Venecia said, referring to the report that Pangasinan will deliver no less than one million votes for Poe in the 2004 presidential elections.
"The President speaks fluently the dialect and in Ilocano, so how could a Pangasinense extol one who is foreign to the local tongue," the Speaker told reporters who joined the presidential party at his birthday bash in Binloc, Dagupan City.
De Venecia urged town mayors not to be swayed by an imagined bandwagon being flaunted by the opposition, as he stressed that the future of the economy lies in the choice of a leader who has full grasp of the challenges of modernization.
"We must campaign for a stable and strong republic, not for a government that will be run by surrogates," the Speaker said, as he warned against the backlash of balloting based on mere popularity.
"There's no substitute to experience and performance," he stressed.
Meanwhile, Vice Gov. Lambino told a news conference that the Lakas party is now streamlining its policy for a "cohesive, responsive and strong coalition" to ensure victory at the polls down to the municipal level.
Nomination papers for various candidates under the ruling coalition are now being carefully prepared in consultation with the sectoral leaders to prevent unnecessary squabbles, Lambino said.
The Lakas local chairman expressed optimism the party's alliance with the Nationalist People's Coalition will remain "as strong as now until judgment day."
(December 28, 2003 issue)
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