Pampanga, Philippines

Sen. Benigno Aquino III, chair of the Senate committee on local government, saw irregularities in the way the Philippine National Police processed the request of Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio for a provincial police director.

“It is clear that a different thing happened to the request of Governor Panlilio. The reasons that the PNP gave are difficult to believe but we are trying to understand that they are loyal soldiers,” Aquino told reporters in Filipino after the hearing on Tuesday.

He said the ideal process was to choose nominees from a pool of eligible officers.

“What happened here is that in the first list of three nominees, two nominees were withdrawn and replaced by two new nominees. There was an order to transmit the first list but this was not transmitted,” he said. By Tonette Orejas

INQUIRER.net

MAGALANG — Reinstated Mayor Lyndon Cunanan and court-declared Mayor Romulo Pecson are both sitting as the town’s chief executive.

Cunanan occupies the Municipal Health Office at the town hall’s compound while Pecson is in the Office of the Municipal Mayor situated at the second floor of the municipal building.

Cunanan tried to force himself inside the town hall on Monday after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc issued a writ of preliminary injunction which orders his reinstatement.

But Pecson refused to vacate the mayor’s office, saying the Comelec order “is not final and executory.”

Cunanan appealed to Pecson’s camp to vacate the town but to no avail.

In its decision signed on May 21, the Comelec en banc decided to grant Cunanan’s “Manifestation and Motion for Partial Reconsideration of the Honorable Ponente’s Opinion.”

The election said the “order of the Regional Trial Court dated December 3, 2007, declaring businessman Romulo Pecson as the town mayor, be set aside.”

It also granted the motion to quash the March 11, 2008 writ of execution pending appeal of the trial court. By Reynaldo G. Navales

Sun.Star Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Pampanga second district Board Member Edna David has taken the lead in calling the Provincial Government to support the Barangay Health Workers (BWHs) in the province.

BWHs are the primary health service providers in the grassroots level — even acting as doctors in places were no doctors or hospitals are readily available. It also acts as the first local manpower force in terms of implementing health programs of the National Government.

In a speech delivered before the Provincial Board (PB) last Monday, David emphasized that BHWs have been at the bottom paylist of health workers in the country. She said of the supposed benefits and privileges that BHWs should get, only a minute is given in exchange of the assistance and services they extend to local communities.

“We cannot give them regular salary because they are not regular government employees. But the services that we give them could be compensated through benefits that we could give them indirectly,” David said, adding that the Provincial Government could help them by means of benefits like allowances for transportation, as well as insurance coverage. IOF

Sun.Star Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Pampanga Vice Governor Joseller Guiao said he is satisfied with the performance of Provincial Police Director Keith Singian.

Guiao issued the statement amid Governor Eddie Panlilio’s persistent lobbying to replace Singian with Senior Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag — the priest-turned-governor’s personal choice for provincial police director.

Panlilio has previously reiterated his right to select the provincial director of his province by citing the provisions of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Act of 1990.

“Personally, I do not find any thing incompetent in his (Singian) work, he is well respected by his colleagues in the service and I believe he even deserves recognition from his previous accomplishments,” Guiao said, adding that he could place Singian’s performance at a “satisfactory” rating. By Ian Ocampo Flora

 Sun.Star Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Senate committee on local government will begin to tackle a bill that seeks new funds for the rehabilitation of lahar-devastated Bacolor town.

The committee, headed by Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, will deliberate on House Bill (HB) 3389, authored by Pampanga third district Representative Aurelio Gonzales Jr. at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Recto Room of the Senate.

Local government officials, among them Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio and Bacolor Mayor Romeo Dungca, and regional head of National Government agencies and sectoral representatives were invited to the committee hearing.

The bill, which was passed by the House last year, seeks to allot P1 billion and to create a council that will spearhead the rebuilding of Bacolor, the most devastated town in Pampanga by lahar inundation.

Sun.Star Pampanga