ANGELES CITY – “Unbecoming of a government official, unfitting of a leader, moreso of one wanting to be president.”
Thus the broad-based advocacy group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) rapped Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas for, “among other things,” allegedly shaming Gov. Lilia G. Pineda at the Central Luzon Regional Peace and Order Council meeting at the Oxford Hotel, Clark Freeport last week.
Roxas reportedly placed former Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio a seat away from him at the presidential table while Pineda and the other local officials including Governors Vic Yap of Tarlac and Aurelio Umali of Nueva Ecija, mayors and police officers were relegated to the audience.
The presence of Panlilio in the meeting of “sitting elected officials and police officers” is deemed as “an in-your face insult” to Pineda and “early politicking” on the part of Roxas.
Panlilio has filed his candidacy as Liberal Party candidate for Pampanga governor in 2013. Roxas is LP president on-leave.
“The shaming of our governor is just the latest misdeed of Roxas showing his being anti-Kapampangan so manifest during his time at the Department of Transportation and Communications,” said PGKM chair Ruperto Cruz.
In July, the PGKM called for the resignation of Roxas from the DOTC due to what it called “conspiracy to sabotage” the development of the Clark International Airport (CIA) as the country’s premier international gateway.
As head of DOTC, Roxas served as chairman of the board of the Clark International Airport Corp. which managed the CIA. Sources had told Punto that Roxas failed to attend even just a single CIAC board meeting.
“Instead of working for the interest of the CIA, Roxas always highlighted obstacles to its development like raising the issue of the Manila-Clark railway which he said was too expensive for the government to build,” Cruz said.
Clark’s distance from Metro Manila, put at 80 kilometers, was also made by Roxas as a “liability” to the development of the CIA.
“Roxas’ playing a chorus boy to the stand of the Manila-based imperial dragons against the CIA has led us to think of some quid pro quo relative to his presidential ambitions,” said Cruz. “Campaign funds could have been the bottomline here.”
“First he denigrated the airport that is the sure-key to our development and the regions north of Manila, now he insulted our governor who represents our people, what more proof of Roxas being rabidly against Kapampangans than these?” asked Cruz.
“The sad thing is that the anti-Kapampangan bias of Roxas resulting to the sabotage of the development of the CIA has adversely affected not only our cabalens but also the rest of Central Luzon, as well as the Ilocos, Cagayan and Cordillera regions who stand to be benefited by the airport as operating international gateway,” Cruz added.
“No way for Roxas to get the vote from these four regions when he runs for president,” Cruz said.
“The LP senatorial slate for 2013 will also suffer in the polls here owing to the arrogant biases of Roxas, their leader.”
