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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
Gov. Ed “Among” Panlilio of Pampanga said he
will seek reelection in 2010 if the same old, traditional
politicians, like the Lapids and the Pinedas, will again try to
wrest the top provincial post.
Such politicians are derisively called trapos,
Spanish for rags.
“Kapag nakita kong tapat, matuwid at may
kakayahan ang isang kandidato, hindi na ako tatakbo [If I see a
candidate who is honest, straightforward and competent, I will not
run],” Panlilio told reporters Thursday during the weekly “No
Holds Barred” media forum at the National Press Club.
When asked by The Manila Times if the Lapids or
the Pinedas were among those he considered unfit to run the province
of Pampanga, Panlilio said, “Yes.”
Panlilio, the 26th governor of Pampanga and the
first Roman Catholic priest in the country to be elected to public
office, defeated then-incumbent reelectionist Gov. Mark Lapid and
then-provincial Board Member Lilia Pineda, who both ran under
pro-administration parties in the May 2007 elections.
Lapid, son of three-term Pampanga governor and
now Sen. Lito Lapid, is hamstrung by allegedly rampant corruption
during his stay in office. He was recently appointed by President
Gloria Arroyo as acting general manager of the Philippine Tourism
Authority.
Pineda is linked to illegal gambling. Her
husband is alleged jueteng lord Bong Pineda. Jueteng is an outlawed
numbers game but is said to have been thriving in many parts of the
country.
Panlilio, who is currently on leave as a priest,
said he has had enough of politics and wants to return to his
priestly duties.
He stressed, though, that he could not just
simply turn his back on the people of Pampanga who gave him all
their support and trust.
“I want to be with the Lord. I’m a prayerful
person and always pray for discernment. I will go where He [the
Lord] wanted me to be,” Panlilio said.
The majority of Pampanga’s local executives
have abandoned Panlilio, saying he has done nothing after a year in
office.
Mere “politicking” and baseless was how
Panlilio described allegations against him. “I feel that [the
allegations were] related to illegal gambling.”
Since taking over as Pampanga governor, he said
he was able to raise the province’s income from quarry operations
to P230 million a year from a measly P20 to P30 million during the
term of his predecessors.
Fight vs. illegal gambling
Panlilio, however, admitted that he still has a
lot of work to do to neutralize or stop illegal gambling,
particularly jueteng, which is rampant in the whole province.
“It’s very hard if you don’t have much
support from the local government units,” he said. Even the
Philippine National Police, he added, did not answer his request for
assistance on the campaign against illegal gambling.
According to Panlilio, the small town lottery, a
numbers game run by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, is
only being used as front for jueteng.
He said the province has earned some P15 million
from its share in the lottery. The earnings, Panlilio added, will be
used to fund alternative means of livelihood for jueteng personnel.
The governor noted that the government or the
sweepstakes office is not earning what it should rightfully earn
from the small town lottery because the sales agents have no
accountability. He said these agents are also jueteng collectors.
“It’s the jueteng lord that determines how
much should go to the government and how much should go to his
pocket,” the priest said.
Panlilio pointed out, though, that the Pinedas
do not own a lottery franchise in Pampanga.
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