More execs support Panlilio recall

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao and all 13 members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan or provincial board have signed the recall petition against Gov. Eddie Panlilio.

“The main problem is not his provincial administrator but the governor himself,” Guiao told The STAR yesterday after Panlilio’s announcement that he was reducing the powers of his controversial provincial administrator Vivian Dabu.

Guiao said he and the 13 board members signed the recall petition initiated by the Kapanalig at Kambilan neng Memalen Pampanga too weeks ago. Some 16 local priests belonging to the Prayer Warriors group also signed the recall petition.

Guiao said that he and the provincial board are focused on the recall move, which needs at least 100,000 signatures of registered voters in Pampanga, and they have not yet considered whom to support, as candidate should the recall polls pave the way for the holding of special gubernatorial elections in the province.

“I suppose there will be a consensus among groups against Panlilio (on who would be fielded as gubernatorial candidate),” Guiao said.

Panlilio earlier said he was looking for replacement for Dabu in the management of the provincial government’s lahar sand quarry operations, as well as for her post as head of the bids and awards committee.

Fr. Restie Lumanlan, president of the Kapampangan Coalition, Inc. had attributed to Dabu the problems now confronting the Panlilio administration and the governor to replace her as provincial administrator.

Panlilio’s former chief of staff Archie Reyes, who was among the 13 former staff members of Panlilio who have already resigned the recall petition, said that Dabu should be dismissed from the Capitol.

Other former supporters of Panlilio had also sought Dabu’s ouster, but Panlilio ignored them by saying Dabu has remained incorruptible, honest, and efficient.

Guiao said that Dabu was merely a side issue in the beleaguered Panlilio administration.

“To say that Dabu is the main problem is not an accurate assessment. Whatever she does, the governor should be held accountable,” he said.

Panlilio and members of the provincial board, including Guiao, have been at odds over various issues, including the appointment of Dabu which the board has never approved and the use of funds under the office of the governor for other expenses within the capitol, among other matters.

Panlilio earlier criticized the board for failing to grant his request for a P13-million supplemental budget for his office, after the P9.5-million budget for the governor’s office for this year has almost been exhausted.

Guiao said the board should not be blamed for delays on the approval of the P13-million supplemental fund since Panlilio himself had once failed to attend a hearing to justify the fund.

He said Panlilio, who left for an official visit to the US last Thursday and is set to arrive today, sent word that provincial budget officer Nida Manalad would represent him in another hearing on his P13 million budget request slated by the board at 2 p.m. today.

Guiao also lashed at an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for saying that it has no funds for the holding of recall elections in Pampanga.

Teresita Ocampo, Comelec field officer for Central Luzon, said that special gubernatorial polls is not likely even if the recall petition garners the 100,000 signatures needed from Pampanga voters.

She said that 18 other recall petitions from other parts of the country have been deferred since the Comelec has no funds for the special polls.