By Bohol Sunday Post
Another battleground was added to the simmering infighting between Gov. Erico Aumentado and Cong. Roberto Cajes which up to last report has escalated to something like “ washing dirty linen in publicâ€.
In what looked like a touch and go affair, Gov. Aumentado fired the first salvo when he accused the second district lawmaker of improprieties in the prosecution of projects in his jurisdiction.
Cong. Cajes countered that Aumentado should not make the mistake of masquerading the projects undertaken during his term as governor as whistle clean as he claimed them to be.
All this torrid exchange of accusations were captured live under the glare of radio interviews by both protagonists.
The latest was the challenge of Cong. Cajes for the two former allies turned bitter enemies to be subjected to a lie detector test to prove who between the two was lying.
Hardly has the Cajes dare gained prominence when the veteran politician in Aumentado called the lawmaker’s challenge saying he was ready “anytime, any place, anywhereâ€.
BONE OF CONTENTION
In retrospect, the bone of contention in the escalating word war between two erstwhile friends was the contest for official nomination of the ruling Lakas Kampi CMD for second district congressional hopeful.
Just as Aumentado was made to believe he was a cinch to the second district slot when Cajes wife, Trinidad Mayor Judith Cajes came out of the blue, to fight the governor’s bid.
It was Aumentado who first secured the official party blessing only to be contested by the lady Cajes with her own Certification of Nomination and Acceptance. Cajes equivalent of a CONA triggered the mad scramble for the party nomination in the contested district.
An update of the Aumentado-Cajes CONA conflict showed Prospero Pichay, secretary, office of political affairs, and chair of the arbitration committee appearing to Chairman Jose Melo of the Commission on Elections for the early resolution of Aumentado’as petition ad cautelam.
In a letter dated January 10, 2010 added to Chairman Melo, Pichay appealed for the early resolution of the petition ad cautelam in re: Petition to Declare and Recognize the uninterrupted validity of the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) Erico B. Aumentado for the position in second district representative†filed on December 14, 2009 with the Comelec through its law department.
With the Pichay appeal, the Comelec law department becomes another battleground in the worsening political conflict between the governor and the congressman.
According to Pichay, he learned that the law department has already completed its recommendation on the issue which is now, therefore, ripe for deliberation and resolution by the honourable commission so that the issue raised in the petition can be decided before he printing of the ballots and the final listing of the candidates.
Pichay added that the final deliberation of the issue can avoid the sad spectacle of justice not being done to petitioner whose position is supported by Lakas-Kampi CMD which chose him as the party official candidate for congressman second district t of Bohol.
The Comelec appeal resolution was provoked by Aumentado’s possession of a CONA only to be revoked and then reinstated. Cajes CONA remains in force even as Aumentado’s CONA when reinstated on December 4, 2009 retroacted its validity and effectivity from the time of its issuance up to the present.
According to Pichay, on the same date, the party also revoked the CONA of Mayor Cajes retroactive to the date it was issued under dubious circumstances since her CONA Serial No. 223522 was issued much later than that of Aumentado with Serial No. 223565. Given that the CONA of Mayor Cajes was lower in serial number than that of Aumentado, the proper officials authorized to sign it should have been Secretary Eduardo Ermita as party president and Sec. Gabby Claudio as party secretary.
In another light, Pichay added, it could also be judiciously assumed that the reinstatement of Aumentado’s CONA and the revocation of Cajes’ on December 4, 2009 by party president Miguel Rene Dominguez and party secretary general Francis Xavier Manglapus can be reasonably interpreted liberally as a substitution made by the party of Cajes’ nomination, by clear and manifest party action, since it was made before the December 14, 2009—the deadline of candidates.
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