Pineda confident Aquino will support Pampanga projects

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines  – Newly installed Gov. Lilia Pineda has expressed confidence that President Benigno Aquino III will continue to support projects in Pampanga.

In her inaugural speech at the Bren Guiao Convention Center here the other day, Pineda also appealed to her cabalen to support Aquino’s administration.

Pineda made the appeal in the presence of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whom Mr. Aquino had vowed to be probed on alleged anomalies during her nine-year term.

Pineda has been a close friend and political supporter of Arroyo since the latter first entered politics as a senator.

Speaking in Tagalog, Pineda thanked Arroyo, whom she addressed as “president-congresswoman” for the projects she had carried out in Pampanga.

Pineda immediately added that she was hopeful that Mr. Aquino would continue to support projects for her constituents.

“I ask all of you to support Mr. Aquino’s administration,” she said.

At the convention center, Arroyo, Pineda and other winners in the last May 10 polls in the province were sworn into office by Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura, an appointee of Arroyo to the tribunal. Arroyo took her oath as congresswoman for the second district of Pampanga.

Pineda said her years of public service – from being mayor of Lubao town to being a member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan – would make up for her lack of a college degree. She vowed to focus on the health and education needs of her constituents.

“I will personally visit our government hospitals and public schools to find out their needs and provide for them,” she said.

Pineda also thanked her predecessor Eddie Panlilio for his accomplishments, expressing hope that he would also support her administration.

During his farewell speech last Monday, Panlilio cited “dignity” as his landmark legacy to the provincial government.

“We succeeded in curbing corruption and adopting a policy of real transparency,” he said in an interview before delivering his farewell speech.

Panlilio has been credited for raising revenues from lahar sand quarrying from a mere P10 million a year during the time of his predecessors to P200 million annually.

The Panlilio administration has raised some P615 million from quarry operations over the past three years.

Panlilio’s priesthood was suspended when he decided to run as an independent candidate in the 2007 gubernatorial race.

When he decided to run for re-election in the May 10 polls as an official candidate of the Liberal Party, Panlilio filed a petition for dispensation from priesthood as a condition imposed by his religious superiors. He sought to withdraw this after he lost to Pineda, who ran under the Lakas-Kampi-CMD banner.

Earlier, his superior, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, said Panlilio’s petition had already reached the Vatican for adjudication, but Panlilio expressed confidence this would be sidestepped and that his priestly powers would be restored within the year.

In the meantime, Panlilio said he would remain active in Talete King Panyulung Kapampangan, a civil society group helping Kapampangans with livelihood ventures.

Asked whether he had any regrets in entering politics, Panlilio said, “I didn’t regret a single moment. It has been a happy, rewarding experience.”

He said his decision to run for governor was based on a “personal conviction.”

Prodded for an advice to Mr. Aquino, he urged him “to listen to the people but decide based on personal convictions.”

In his speech, Panlilio cited accomplishments, including projects worth P58.5 million for public health, P35 million in health insurance for 48,883 residents, and, P72.4 million in medical assistance for 30,000 families.