Northern Mindanao || X Keep off Save CDO drive, politicos told
Keep off Save CDO drive, politicos told
Wednesday, 01 February 2012 00:00
SEN. Aquilino Martin Pimentel III yesterday called on politicians to keep their distance from the ongoing Save CDO Now campaign to remove Mayor Vicente Emano by way of a recall election. His father, ex-senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., said it would be best for politicians to allow Cagayanons to do what they want with the city's leader. The younger Pimentel appealed to politicians: "Leave it to the people." He said, "It is my wish that the people's true sentiment should come out. Hence, politicians should not participate in the effort."
Pimentel's father, who once served as mayor of the city, said Cagayanons "are the best judge of how good or bad their mayor has delivered government service to them as a community." The elder Pimentel added: "The process of recall is one by which they may assert their sovereign power over the mayor."
He said he was aware that the most telling event that compelled many Cagayanons to take "that rather drastic move" was when Typhoon Sendong hit Cagayan de Oro, killing hundreds and devastating the city last December. "There was hardly a hint that the mayor cared for the peope's welfare. That perceived insensitivity was aggravated by the dumping of dead bodies into the city's garbage dump," the elder Pimentel said. "Still, the recall can go either way. It's really all up to the people. After all, they had put him (Emano) in power as their mayor," he said. The pronouncements of the two Pimentels came after Sen. Francis Escudero criticized the ongoing signature campaign, saying it was untimely.
The group is working to gather 100 thousand signatures for a recall petition to be submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on or before May. To convince the Comelec to schedule a recall election, Save CDO needs at least 45 thousand signatures. Many brows were raised over Escudero's pronouncements that those behind the recall campaign should instead help in the relief efforts. The senator's anti-recall statements were booed in social networking sites, with some even threatening not to vote for him in future elections.
One angry citizen posted this on Facebook: "To Sen. Escudero--so when do you suppose is the right time? Obviously, Senator, you can never empathize with us because Cagayan de Oro is not your enclave. For once you were right about timing, when you backed off from a higher political bid, but the timing of this recall movement is even much belated!" Another post reads: "Chiz (Escudero) just lost my vote." Save CDO spokesperson Tito Mora said, "We are all victims of Sendong. Even Mr. Emano. Not one single man, woman or child can claim that he or she was not affected. But there is only one man who swore and took a solemn oath to be the chief executor of the law and protect our city and people from harm. He may have delegated the task but the responsibility remains with the office he campaigned for and held for a decade. So we say no more. We go for change."
Ingrid Chaves Agudo, one of Save CDO's organizers, said the relief operations have been hampered by "indecisive local government officials" because of "politicking." Agudo said members of Save CDO have never stopped in their relief operations since Dec. 17. "You get relief goods and a relocation package if you are with their party," said Agudo, adding that even a UP professor and presidential adviser for the environment Nereus Acosta saw the "ineptitude of the mayor."
"Recall is the order of the day," she said. Dr. Antonio Montalvan, a vocal Emano critic who supports the recall initiative, added: "Relief is already over saturated... Now is the time for policy options."
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