CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Gov. Eddie Panlilio said yesterday that Pres. Arroyo’s unusually frequent visits to her second district in this province constitute “early and irregular campaigning” amid reports she will run for Congress in next year’s polls.
The President was again in her hometown in Lubao yesterday to inspect the rehabilitation of classrooms at the Sta. Lucia Elementary School and a roofing project for a basketball court in Barangay San Juan. Two days earlier, she was also in the town where she is a registered voter also to inspect local projects.
“Definitely, her frequent visits lead to an early and irregular campaigning,” Panlilio told Punto in a text message.
By the count of the government Philippine Information Agency, yesterday’s visit was the President’s 39th to Pampanga. Local media have noted, however, that of this number, 36 were within her district comprising of Lubao, Sasmuan, Guagua, Floridablanca, and Porac.
While Malacañang has never categorically denied reports that the President will run for Congress in her district, a growing number of Kapampangan folk take her frequent visits to the second district as confirmation of such reports. Presidential son Rep. Mikey Arroyo, who is still entitled to a third term as congressman from the second district, will reportedly run under a sports-oriented partylist.
“Mahihirapan ang tatapat sa kanya (Pres. Arroyo) sa halalan sapagkat ultimong trabaho ng barangay captain ay pinapatulan niya. (Anyone will find some difficulty challenging her because she takes on even jobs fit for a barangay chief),” noted Panlilio who once exposed alleged “payola” of local government officials after a meeting with Mrs. Arroyo in Malacañang.
The PIA said apart from her visit to Lubao, the President’s itinerary yesterday consisted of the ceremonial distribution of United Nations-World Food Program donations to flood victims at Miss Earth Park in Candaba, which is part of Pampanga’s fourth district and relief goods distribution in flooded San Agustin also in Candaba.
Most of the President’s recent visits to the second district were coupled with medical-dental missions called PGMA (her initials) Serbisyo Caravan.
Prof. Randy David, a native of Guagua, has openly declared his plan to challenge the President in the congressional race. David is the elder brother of Pampanga Bishop Virgilio Pablo David.
In a recent interview in Mabalacat, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said “we are wondering why she is over-concentrating in Pampanga, specially the second district”
“For a president with a constituency in the entire country, it would be at the least too much of a bias if you concentrate it in one district unless she has political plans. We are watching whether she would opt to run for congress as a minimum safety net against the possibility of being out of power entirely and being prosecuted once there is a change of government under the opposition,” Ocampo said.
There have been nagging reports that Mrs. Arroyo will run for congress in her district in next year’s elections, although Malacañang has kept mum on this, at times even saying that the President’s frequent sorties to her district was only to manifest her affection to her “cabalens.”
Ocampo said that his Bayan Muna partylist would support whoever would challenge the President in such a congressional race in the second district. So far, Prof. Randy David already announced he would challenge Mrs. Arroyo.
The President was again in her hometown in Lubao yesterday to inspect the rehabilitation of classrooms at the Sta. Lucia Elementary School and a roofing project for a basketball court in Barangay San Juan. Two days earlier, she was also in the town where she is a registered voter also to inspect local projects.
“Definitely, her frequent visits lead to an early and irregular campaigning,” Panlilio told Punto in a text message.
By the count of the government Philippine Information Agency, yesterday’s visit was the President’s 39th to Pampanga. Local media have noted, however, that of this number, 36 were within her district comprising of Lubao, Sasmuan, Guagua, Floridablanca, and Porac.
While Malacañang has never categorically denied reports that the President will run for Congress in her district, a growing number of Kapampangan folk take her frequent visits to the second district as confirmation of such reports. Presidential son Rep. Mikey Arroyo, who is still entitled to a third term as congressman from the second district, will reportedly run under a sports-oriented partylist.
“Mahihirapan ang tatapat sa kanya (Pres. Arroyo) sa halalan sapagkat ultimong trabaho ng barangay captain ay pinapatulan niya. (Anyone will find some difficulty challenging her because she takes on even jobs fit for a barangay chief),” noted Panlilio who once exposed alleged “payola” of local government officials after a meeting with Mrs. Arroyo in Malacañang.
The PIA said apart from her visit to Lubao, the President’s itinerary yesterday consisted of the ceremonial distribution of United Nations-World Food Program donations to flood victims at Miss Earth Park in Candaba, which is part of Pampanga’s fourth district and relief goods distribution in flooded San Agustin also in Candaba.
Most of the President’s recent visits to the second district were coupled with medical-dental missions called PGMA (her initials) Serbisyo Caravan.
Prof. Randy David, a native of Guagua, has openly declared his plan to challenge the President in the congressional race. David is the elder brother of Pampanga Bishop Virgilio Pablo David.
In a recent interview in Mabalacat, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said “we are wondering why she is over-concentrating in Pampanga, specially the second district”
“For a president with a constituency in the entire country, it would be at the least too much of a bias if you concentrate it in one district unless she has political plans. We are watching whether she would opt to run for congress as a minimum safety net against the possibility of being out of power entirely and being prosecuted once there is a change of government under the opposition,” Ocampo said.
There have been nagging reports that Mrs. Arroyo will run for congress in her district in next year’s elections, although Malacañang has kept mum on this, at times even saying that the President’s frequent sorties to her district was only to manifest her affection to her “cabalens.”
Ocampo said that his Bayan Muna partylist would support whoever would challenge the President in such a congressional race in the second district. So far, Prof. Randy David already announced he would challenge Mrs. Arroyo.
