'Promote candidate you want, but not at my expense'

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – Promote the candidate you want but not at my expense.

A visibly irked Gov. Amado Espino Jr. said this in the Lingguhang Talakayan sa Kapitolyo (Weekly Discussions in the Capitol) Monday before local newsmen in protest to a news published in a national daily (not in The STAR) about a statement made by Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza on the shotguns issued to the barangay captains. 

In a statement posted in the website of Alaminos City, it stated that Braganza and his citymates hailed the PNP Provincial Office for its laudable move citing that the recall only implies one thing-that Espino’s shotgun program was wrong.

“It (recall) was perfectly timed but they should have done it earlier to save their face,” said Braganza of the P30 million worth of pump shot guns purchased by the Pangasinan government.

“I accept critics as I have been in government service since I was 19 years old but not if it is not the truth,” Espino said.

He said if his critics do not like him and are favoring another candidate, he would welcome it but not at his expense. 

“All I’m asking is fairness. I hope this is not too much to ask but this is going too far picturing us here as a war zone,” he said.

Espino defended the purchase of the shotguns for the barangay captains funded by the provincial government through a resolution passed by the provincial board. He said while he was still campaigning for governor in 2007, he found out through consultations with the people and the barangay leaders that they need the weapons to secure their areas against cattle rustlers and other lawless elements. He said he assured the people then that if he would win, he would help the police to provide shotguns to the barangay captains.

Political issue

He said some people are already making the shotguns a political issue. “Wag naman (Please no),” he said.

“These people never saw anything good about me,” he added.

While legally, he said the barangay captains are allowed to possess firearms, the provincial government and the police still signed a memorandum of agreement with the barangay captains to outline specific roles and parameters for the weapons’ use.

“If our intentions were not good, we shouldn’t have included these anymore in the MOA that whenever there are elections, these weapons would be recalled from the barangay captains’ possessions” he said. 

“But why are these people, including the writer of that story, not tell about arming the Cafgus and elements of the Public Order and Safety Office in Alaminos?,” Espino asked.

“Who has the right to bring firearms, the Cafgus who were recruited, or the barangay captains who were elected by the people? Examine that,” he said.

He added, “Why don’t they write about a mayor who asked for eight bodyguards brought in Bani who were not from Pangasinan and who did not pass through the provincial police?”