By JUNE S. BLANCO
THE revocation of the certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) of Mayor Judith del Rosario Cajes retroacts to its date of issue.
Thus the Lakas-Kampi-CMD hierarchy resolved the controversy enfolding the bids for official candidate status of graduating Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado and Cajes, mayor of Trinidad, who wants to assume the congressional seat of her similarly graduating husband Roberto.
Prospero Pichay, secretary of political affairs of the Office of the President and chair of the party’s arbitration committee flew to Bohol Friday to help smoothen raised hackles and ruffled feathers – and pave the way for unity and cooperation again among local leaders rocked by their over-eagerness to serve their constituents.
In a sworn statement issued on December 11 in Tagbilaran City and notarized by lawyer Handel Lagunay, former provincial legal officer turned provincial administrator, Pichay said his committee had evaluated Aumentado’s request for reconsideration after his CONA was revoked and another CONA for the same position was issued in favor of Cajes.
Pichay said after a careful deliberation and consideration of the facts, circumstances and party rules, the committee found merit in Aumentado’s request, and as such, hold and sustain that the validity and effectivity of his CONA with serial no. 22565 was uninterrupted from the time of its issuance up to the present.
At the same time, the committee recommended the revocation of the CONA of Mayor Cajes with SN 22522 retroactive to the time it was issued.
He said the clear intent of the party decision in the aforecited action taken was to revert to the original decision of fielding Aumentado as their only candidate for the second district of Bohol.
Lakas-Kampi-CMD also sent the Bohol office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) a letter dated December 4 but received at the Office of the Governor on Decenber 9 that turned the table on Cajes – the party has reinstated Aumentado’s CONA and revoked hers. New party president Miguel Rene Dominguez and secretary general Francis Xavier Manglapuz signed the letter.
To note, Aumentado, party members and the Boholanos in general did not like it when Rep. Cajes who was supposed to be gubernatorial candidate Rep. Edgardo Chatto’s running mate filed his candidacy for mayor of Trinidad instead.
Aumentado had filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) with a CONA dated November 18 signed by then party president Eduardo Ermita and then secretary general Gabriel Claudio.
He submitted the documents to Comelec-Bohol at the New Capitol Annex together with Chatto, Cajes, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and former Gov. Rene Relampagos – congressional bets for the 3rd and 1st Districts, as well as their candidates for board members – following the “unity mass†they attended at the Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Tagbilaran City.
With their documents in, the party members held each other’s hands and raised their arms in the traditional symbol of unity and endorsement in the political world – before proceeding to the Bohol Tropics Resort for the “unity dinner†to celebrate the filing that would mark a new chapter full of changes in local Lakas-Kampi-CMD history.
But the Cajeses pulled the rug out from under everyone’s feet when, with a CONA affirming her nomination and revoking Aumentado’s that would have turned the latter into an independent candidate, she filed her candidacy that would pit her against the governor who is a congressional veteran.
Just a few hours after the filing, Chatto already went on the air to explain that the revocation was prompted by the governor’s alleged “committing acts inimical to the party†as gleaned from “intelligence reports.†But Aumentado could not get heads or tails of the accusation. The revocation is deemed a “punishment,†hence he said he was “convicted†– without due process.
“I was victimized by a treacherous cabal!†Aumentado had said.
For one, her CONA was dated November 30, but with the serial number interestingly ahead of Aumentado’s. The letter informing the Bohol Comelec of the affirmation of Cajes’ CONA that also revoked Aumentado’s, signed only by Manglapus and deputy secretary general Raymundo Roquero was dated December 1.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, then party chair until she turned it over to presidential timber Gilberto “Gibo†Teodoro had ordered Yap to get to the bottom of the rigodon – and the rest is now history.
With Pichay when he made the statement were Yap and Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila.
A neophyte in Bohol politics, Yap had earlier said solving the world food crisis is a lot easier than untangling the local political scenario.
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