CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao and the leader of a group that gathered over 220,000 signatures in a recall petition seeking Gov. Eddie Panlilio’s ouster from his post urged yesterday those pushing for the governor as presidential candi-date in 2010 to first ask Kapam-pangans about his leadership and character.
“I appeal to them to study his ways from the start of his campaigning as governor to his performance as governor,” engineer Rosve Henson, president of the Kapanalig at Kambilan da reng Memalen Pampanga (Kambilan), said in an interview.
On the other hand, Guiao challenged those pushing for Panlilio as president “to be objective enough and examine the governor’s accomplishments in the province.”
“He failed in all aspects because he failed to harmonize and involve local officials and he had isolated himself. His performance has been below par in education, infrastructure development, health, among others aspects,” Guiao noted.
Guiao urged people advocating Panlilio for president not only to ask Kapampangans but to examine the accomplishment record of Panlilio. “To ask Kapampangans is to get their opinions, but to examine records is to be more objective,” he said.
This, even as Fr. Resty Lumanlan, founder of the Kapampangan Coalition, Inc. (KCI) which supported Panlilio in his gubernatorial bid, expressed doubts that the governor, whom he noted to be a priest on leave, would be able to decide on whether to run or not for president based on “God’s will”.
“How can he know God’s will for himself when he does not even obey his superior in the Catholic Church?” he asked, referring to San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto who had opposed Panlilio’s entry into politics.
Henson’s group garnered over 220,000 signatures of Pampanga folk supporting a recall petition which cited loss of confidence in Panlilio’s leadership. The Commission on Elections, however, has not acted on the petition for lack of funds.
“People should look at how he handled people close to him and had staunchly campaigned for him, his relationships with local officials and other local leaders, and his management style,” he said. Almost all leaders who had campaigned for him and whom he later appointed to important posts at the provincial capitol have already resigned.
Punto! sent Panlilio text messages seeking an interview, but he did not reply.
Lumanlan noted that among KCI’s criticism of the Panlilio administration was his retaining lawyer Vivian Dabu as provincial administrator. “We maintained that she was problem No. 1 in his administration, but we were ignored,” he said.
Conflict with Dabu was also cited by other campaign supporters of Panlilio for later resigning from important posts they were appointed to in the provincial government. Dabu has been perceived as Panlilio’s major, if not lone adviser.
Officials at the capitol said Dabu succeeded in advising Panlilio to remove a statue of the Immaculate Concepcion from the governor’s office. The statue was first installed there in the 1970’s. Dabu is said to belong to a “born again” Christian group.
Guiao also noted that the governor’s office had also planned to scrap First Friday Masses at the capitol and replace these with “services” by the Jesus is Lord Fellowship, but this did not push through amid strong protests from employees.
“It’s terribly wrong for people to think that Panlilio will not have his version of a first lady when he becomes president,” Guiao said, referring to the probability that Dabu would play a significant role in a Panlilio presidency.
Guiao and Henson lamented that those who want Panlilio to be president are not from Pampanga.
The Panlilio administration, however, has recently received awards. During the 1st Regional Cooperative Congress held last March 9 to 11 in Olongapo City, the provincial government received the best provincial cooperative award.
Earlier this year, the Pampanga provincial government also was one of the 10 “Galing Pook” awardees in Malacanang for its quarry tax collection system with P323 million revenues as of last December.
But Guiao said the impressive quarry revenue accomplishment of the Panlilio administration was limited to his first year in office. “Since then, quarry revenues have been plunging by as much as 40 percent,” he noted.
