Magtubo warns Rosales

Party-list Rep. Renato Magtubo yesterday warned one of his colleagues, Loreta Ann Rosales, another party-list lawmaker, that she should be "ready for the worst" if she would pick a fight with him.

"If Etta (Rosales) will train her guns on me (rather) than at the House leadership, then she should be ready for war. We will have no choice then but to tell the whole truth regarding Etta's original attitude about the payola," he said.

Sources said Rosales would have remained mum on the payola mess stemming from the passage by the House of Representatives of the controversial Omnibus Power Bill if Magtubo did not mention her name as one of the lawmakers who received bribe money in connection with the power bill's passage.

At the same time, Magtubo apologized to Rosales who charged earlier that he has been dragging her name in the payola scandal.

"If Etta Rosales thinks I misrepresented her, I say sorry," Magtubo said in a statement.

He insisted, however, that there was no misrepresentation because he got the impression that Rosales' group was part of a broad coalition planning to stage protest actions to press for an independent inquiry into the alleged pay-off to congressmen who voted in favor of the bill that was passed by the House on April 12.

Magtubo pointed out that apart from Rosales' Akbayan, two other organizations--his own Sanlakas and Freedom From Debt Coalition--have agreed to join the protest actions.

Earlier, Rosales urged Magtubo to stop speaking on her behalf, saying she can speak for herself.

Rosales was reacting to Magtubo's statement in Davao City where he said the two of them would take to the streets to wage their crusade for an honest-to-goodness investigation of the alleged bribery.

But Rosales denied she has forged an alliance with Magtubo.

In a statement, Magtubo said he did not expect Rosales to put malice into his pronouncement, adding he merely wanted to share the limelight with her and Akbayan in denouncing the payola.

Magtubo said he assumed that by mentioning Rosales' name, she would agree to link arms with him for a common cause.

However, he raised doubts that Akbayan has sanctioned Rosales' position.

Magtubo said he regrets quarreling with Rosales, but argued that he had no choice but to retort.

"This is already the second time that she has criticized Sanlakas and me in the media. Last week, she released a statement where she disparaged Sanlakas as a party of Don Quixotes," he said.

He also lamented that Rosales has abandoned the "legislative struggle of the parliament of the streets in consideration of her legislative work at a parliament of the trapos (traditional politicians)."

He said it would be better to be called Don Quixote for his uncompromising criticisms of "corruption and hypocrisy" rather than be a member of a party of "Machiavellis... or scheming politicians."