'Snub' of Pangasinan governor in Aquino's visit criticized

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines  – Former Pangasinan vice governor, now provincial board member Ranjit Ramos Shahani yesterday assailed the Presidential Management Staff and his local partymates in the Liberal Party for their failure to invite Gov. Amado Espino Jr. in last Tuesday’s visit of President Aquino to inaugurate a housing project for typhoon victims in Bani town.

“It’s the height of amateurism, a serious breach of presidential protocol,” Shahani said in a privilege speech during the regular session of the provincial board yesterday.

While noting that Espino is not a partymate of the President, Shahani said, “The mere fact that he is the father of the province, he deserved to be accorded the right protocol and respect.”

A nephew of former President Fidel Ramos, Shahani described the act of his partymates as a “conspiracy of the unwilling, too much political circus for self-aggrandizement.”

Reacting to Shahani’s speech, the provincial board members passed a resolution authored by senior board member Alfonso Bince Jr. expressing the “sense of deep frustration and sadness” of the board and local officials for the “snub.”

Pangasinenses gave Aquino a big margin of votes in the presidential elections last May.

Apart from Shahani and Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro, the other politicians who welcomed the President were Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza and former governor Victor Agbayani, both political detractors of Espino.

“We were the ones insulted, yet we are being blamed for the fiasco,” Espino said in reaction to the attacks hurled by Navarro.

Rep. Jesus Celeste of the province’s first district, which includes Bani town, was not also invited to the event, which only three mayors attended.

Bugallon Mayor Rodrigo Orduna, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Pangasinan chapter, criticized Navarro for referring to Agbayani as “my governor” during the event, noting that Espino defeated Agbayani by more than 530,000 votes in the gubernatorial race last May.

Navarro admitted that he did not really invite Espino, with him he had a falling out, “just to avoid the embarrassment and the uneasiness.”   – With Eva Visperas