Golez teams up with Bernabe

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who belongs to the opposition bloc in the House of Representatives, joined forces yesterday with his city mayor, Florencio Bernabe Jr., who belongs to the ruling party Lakas.

"Our alliance is all about local politics. I remain an independent and I have no intention of joining any party. I must stress that this is only for local candidates. We support different senatorial candidates," Golez said.

He said under his coalition agreement with his city mayor, he would support Bernabe and his entire ticket.

"In turn, they are adopting me as their candidate for congressman," he said.

He said he and Bernabe have been friends for more than 20 years. He added that all his opponents are independents like him, and that Lakas and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino did not field candidates in his district.

Queried about the senatorial candidates he is supporting, Golez said, "Most of them are my associates in the opposition, though some are from Team Unity and they are former colleagues in the House."

Asked about speculations that he plans to rejoin the administration side and support President Arroyo again, he said, "No, no. This is all local. This has nothing to do with GMA."

Golez was Mrs. Arroyo’s national security adviser for three years before running for congressman again in 2004. He was a member of the majority bloc in the House until the middle of 2005 when, at the height of the "Hello, Garci" scandal, he joined mounting calls for the resignation of his former Malacañang boss.

As defense committee chairman, Golez led the House investigation into the "Garci" tape recording controversy. He was the one who named several agents and officers of the intelligence service of the Armed Forces who allegedly taped Mrs. Arroyo’s phone conversations with former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

When investigated, the agents and officers refused to talk beyond denying that they bugged their commander-in-chief. Golez later quit the majority bloc, gave up his committee chairmanship and joined the opposition bloc led by Minority Leader Francis Escudero. Golez is one of Escudero’s deputy minority leaders. He said he would remain with the minority if he wins reelection next month. – Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva