‘Cabalens’ want GMA to run in ’04

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Capampangans love their own so much they want a native daughter to seek the presidency for a complete six-year term.

Not only that, but some 200 prominent Capampangans who came out yesterday in tacit support for President Arroyo in 2004 also want her to appoint another "cabalen" as the Armed Forces chief.

Health Undersecretary Epifanio Lacap, founder of the Aguman-Ding Capampangan or Society of Pampangueños, said that while yesterday’s gathering at the Holiday Inn hotel here did not "explicitly" endorse Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy in the 2004 presidential polls, there was "sweeping sentiment" for her to do so.

Lacap said that the members of their group’s various chapters from other provinces nationwide endorsed to the President the appointment of Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling as the new AFP chief once Gen. Diomedio Villanueva retires.

Camiling, who is the current vice chief of staff, is from Bacolor, Pampanga, and not from Tarlac where there is a town by that name.

"We’ve never had a Capampangan chief of staff, and we believe that General Camiling is the most qualified to take over Villanueva’s post," Lacap said.

Camiling graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1969 along with Philippine National Police Director General Leandro Mendoza and Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Defensor.

Another contender for the post, according got STAR sources, is military Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, of PMA Class ’70.

Media were barred from covering the Aguman Capampangan affair, even as Lacap stressed that it was also designed to manifest the unity of the Capampangans behind the President amid problems confronting her administration.

"We are pledging our support for her and we are offering whatever we can to help, especially in her projects and programs for the indigents, as well as scholarships for poor but deserving youths," he said.

The group was founded by Lacap in 1998 to urge Mrs. Arroyo to run for the presidency, although she later opted to run for vice president to give way to her running mate, Jose de Venecia, then Speaker of the House, who has since reclaimed his post.

Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Angeles said the so-called White House, which used to serve as guest house of the US air force in this former US military base, has been refurbished for Mrs. Arroyo’s overnight stay here.

The White House has been designated as the official presidential residence at the Clark special economic zone by the CDC.