'Pampanga board can't allot recall fund'

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The regional director of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has told the provincial board that it does not have the power to allocate P25 million from local funds for a special gubernatorial election that could arise from a pending recall petition against Gov. Eddie Panlilio.

This, as Panlilio asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last Monday to “deny due course” to the recall petition against him.

In a meeting with the board here the other day, DBM-Central Luzon director Eliza Salon said under the Local Government Code, only Panlilio is authorized to make such an allocation from the provincial coffers.

Earlier, board members bared plans to provide the P25 million needed for the recall election, saying they were prepared to override Panlilio’s veto of the allocation.

“Not even supplemental funds can be resorted to by the board for recall elections,” Salon told The STAR.

During the meeting, Zoilo Perlas, the Comelec’s regional director, said such funds could be obtained from the Special Purpose Fund under the national government’s general appropriations or even from the Office of the President.

But Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, in a recent interview in Angeles City, said obtaining the funds from the national government might give the impression that President Arroyo is supporting the recall petition against Panlilio, who had exposed alleged “payola” from Malacañang during a meeting of governors in October last year.

Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao, the board’s presiding officer, insisted that the Comelec is bound by law to seek funding for the recall election once it finds the recall petition meritorious.

In the past, he said funds from national coffers were used for recall elections, including those against former Bataan governor Enrique Garcia and former Angeles City mayor Jose Abad Santos.

Guiao, in an interview, said President Arroyo’s being a Kapampangan should not be taken as a reason against the propriety of using national government funds for recall elections.

“It’s the interest of the Kapampangan people which should be protected once the recall petition is found meritorious,” he said.

The recall petition, signed by over 220,000 Pampanga voters, was endorsed as valid in form and substance by Comelec provincial officer Temmie Lambino and forwarded to Comelec deputy executive director for operations Bartolome Sinocruz for consideration of the Comelec.

While Sinocruz has yet to endorse the petition, Panlilio, in his petition, said the ongoing proceedings “have caused and continue to cause grave and irreparable injury” to him, as his standing and reputation as governor “is being put to question.”

Panlilio cited four grounds for the Comelec to deny the petition, including the absence of a “brief narration of the reasons and justifications.”

He added that the petition bore signatures of voters not registered in Pampanga and did not comply with Comelec rules and regulations on the verification of signatures.

Panlilio also argued that the recall petition is “premature” and is “barred” by the pending electoral protest filed by Lilia Pineda, who lost to him in last year’s gubernatorial race by 1,147 votes.

The respondents in the petition included Lambino, Sinocruz, and Rosve Henson whose group Kapanalig at Kabilan da reng Memalen Pampanga (Kambilan) launched the recall petition.