President Arroyo poured a whopping P459 million worth of infrastructure projects in the second district of Pampanga, where she’s seeking a congressional seat in 2010, according to documents provided by Liberal Party senatorial candidate Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros.
Documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways as of Nov. 30, 2009 show that most of the projects involved construction or improvement of roads, drainages, and desilting and declogging of rivers.
It smacks of electioneering and should be a reason to disqualify the President from joining the congressional race, Hontiveros said. The lady lawmaker has filed a disqualification case against President Arroyo.
“That’s the most compelling reason why she should be disqualified from running. As the highest official of the land, virtually no one, not a sitting legislator and especially not an ordinary civilian like Mr. Adonis Simpao, can compete with the resources that she has at her disposal,” Hontiveros said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The most expensive projects are the following:
P150-M for the Lubao Bypass Road of San Fernando-Olongapo Road including ROW, Pampanga 2nd Legislative District
P100-M for the access road to the proposed BASA Airbase Interchange along Subic, Clark, Pampanga, 2nd legislative district
P30-M for the concreting and rehabilitation of Babasukan Road in Porac
P20-M for the upgrading of San Fernando-Lubao Road, San Antonio-Guagua Section
P20-M for the upgrading of San Fernando-Lubao Road, Sta. Monica-Lubao Section
P20-M for the dredging of mouth of Third River (Downstream section near Pampanga Bay) using government owned dredgers
P12-M for the construction of slope protection along Porac River, Pulunmasle, Guagua
P10.5-M for the completion/construction/rehabilitation/improvement of Multi-Purpose Building in Lubao
P9.1-M for the concreting of roads in various barangays in Lubao
Based on Hontiveros’s calculations, the infrastructure projects in President Arroyo’s district are 9 times more than the annual allocation for each congressman.
Uneven playing field
“She went thru a building frenzy, as if creating her own road to Congress, and perhaps, to the Prime Minister position that she obviously covets,” Hontiveros wrote.
“GMA’s participation in the race makes the fight uneven. It is not even a question of the resources that she can mobilize to give herself undue advantage, but her capacity to deploy those resources for partisan purposes. She has shown in 2004 that she is willing to use her position to influence an election official and to mobilize the military to protect her votes. If she can use the funds of the government in a spending spree for her district, then nothing prevents her from abusing her powers to ensure her victory,” she added.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is scheduled to hear on January 7 the disqualification case filed by Hontiveros against President Arroyo, who is the second Philippine president to run for a lower post after serving as head of state.
Hontiveros argued that incumbent president should not be allowed to seek reelection in any position.
“The intention of the ban is to protect the election for the highest position from the undue influence that a sitting president could exercise. We believe that the same principle applies for local positions. The same compelling reasons that rationalize the ban exist in the case of a sitting president running for a local position. Otherwise, it would be absurd,” she said.
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