Samar heads set politics aside during Pacific Partnership

CALBAYOG CITY -- Politics was set aside for the first time in the province of Samar after prominent political rivals gathered in the opening of the humanitarian mission of United States Navy medical ship USNS Mercy here.

With no less than the US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas as their guest, Governor Sharee Ann Tan, together with Samar first district Representative Mel Senen Sarmiento and Calbayog City Mayor Ronald Aquino, joined media practitioners from Samar and Tacloban in a press conference after the opening of the Pacific Partnership 2012 where the governor was asked on what she felt about the occasion.

“This is what I always asked from them even with the municipal mayors in this province,” said Governor Tan.

“If we always talk about politics and always mind politics, we will never get over the election stage. This is why I always asked them to set aside politics first and concentrate on providing solution to the needs of our constituents,” Tan added.

Tan said she has been calling among local officials in the province for cooperation despite of an earlier failed bid to oust her through a recall petition that was dismissed by the Commission on Elections due to lack of time and fund.

Tan added she was happy to be with Sarmiento and Aquino in a momentous occasion like the humanitarian mission conducted by the USNS Mercy, composed of different nationalities working under the flag of the United States. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)