LP: Leyte bets using 4Ps to get votes

MAASIN CITY , Philippines   â€“ Local candidates of the Liberal Party (LP) here claimed yesterday that incumbent officials of the province have been using the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps of the government as a tool to get votes from the voting population.

Speaking to reporters at her residence, former Southern Leyte governor Rosette Lerias claimed that the incumbent officials, from congressman down to barangay level, have been holding the residents hostage using the 4Ps as leverage.

Lerias, who is running for mayor in Maasin while her daugther Marissa is a candidate for governor, said that the incumbent leaders have been threatening poor residents with their possible removal from the list of beneficiaries of the 4Ps if they participate in the political events of the LP-led coalition Team PNoy.

This includes the rally held by Team PNoy yesterday where they were joined by President Aquino and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

According to the younger Lerias, the number of very poor residents here who are enrolled in the 4Ps is estimated to be around 16,000 households out of a total of 90,000.

She said that the members of the 4Ps were threatened with removal from the program, as well as the non-issuance of certificates of indigents.

“The barangay officials make life difficult (for poor residents). They are very oppressive,” she said.

The elder Lerias claimed that the residents were also prevented from attending the Team PNoy rally through use of the same threats by incumbent officials.

“They wanted to come but they were threatened not to come because if they will come, they will lose the privilege of being a member of conditional cash transfer,” she said.

The administration has only one incumbent official in the province, Sogod Mayor Shefferd Tan.

The rest of the officials, led by Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado and Gov. Damian Mercado, belong to the National Unity Party.

Eastern Visayas is the country’s third poorest region after the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Southern Mindanao.

Team PNoy candidate former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros said that Eastern Visayas could gain a competitive advantage with its potential for tourism.

She said that the region could get out of poverty by developing its main industries, copra and abaca, for export and upgrade its infrastructure to bring in more tourists.

“Maybe people do not know we can say ‘It’s more fun in Eastern Visayas.’ They have a lot of great sceneries and ecosystems,” Hontiveros said.

“We need to upgrade the infrastructure and service capacities in order to develop the tourism potential and contribute to the growth and quality of life of the people in Samar and Leyte,” she added.