Delta clears air on dynasties

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    Legacy not dynasty. Vice gubernatorial bet Pineda fields questions at presscon with (from left) Apalit Mayor Jun Tetangco, Floridablanca Mayor Guerrero and 3rd District Board Member Trina Dizon. Photo by Bong Lacson

    CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “Serbisyo po ito na ino-offer ko sa mga tao (It’s public service that I’m offering to the people).”

    Thus, said vice gubernatorial candidate Dennis “Delta” Pineda during the Kambilan Speakers’ Bureau Media Forum last Wednesday at the Max’s Restaurant here. Pineda, the only son of Governor Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda, made the statement in reaction to questions from the media on the issue of political dynasties.

    The younger Pineda, former three-term mayor of Lubao, said he did not seek the nomination from the Kambilan party neither was he pushed by members of his family to once again throw his hat into the political arena.

    Pineda said it took him a while to “accept the challenge” to run for vice governor. He said if he wins the elections, the provincial board will be “very transparent” in all its transactions. “Lahat po kami mananagot (We will all be liable),” he vowed.

    Pineda said if an enabling law is passed defining political dynasties as “illegal,” he will readily step down from office.

    Meanwhile, Kambilan party vice president and spokesman Rosve Henson said Pineda was endorsed by the Pampanga Mayors’ League (PML) as candidate for vice governor.

    He said the PML, after pondering on other possible candidates, agreed that only Pineda, in tandem with his mother Gov. Pineda, can maximize public service and the delivery of social services to the Kapampangans.

    Henson said the PML endorsement was followed by similar resolutions endorsing Pineda’s candidacy for vice governor by the Vice Mayors’ League of Pampanga, the Councilors’ League of Pampanga and the Association of Barangay Captains in the province.

    Floridablanca Mayor Eddie Guerrero said the issue of political dynasty is clearly defined under the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines which states in Article II Section 26, “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

    But he said there is no enabling law which bars candidates from running for public office under the present Constitutional provision.

    In the meantime, Guerrero said candidates take comfort in the words of Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father and the principal author of the American Declaration of Independence, that “all authority emanates from the people.”

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