MANILA, Philippines - Election season is here, and the gloves are coming off.
This early, Nacionalista Party (NP) spokespersons are taking potshots at Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).
Lawyer Adel Tamano said Escudero would surely lose in the May 2010 presidential elections if poverty were the barometer, since his home province of Sorsogon remains one of the poorest in the country.
Tamano said that Sorsogon should have been the “showcase” of the opposition senator.
“Chiz is a friend, but I think anybody who aspires to be president must be able to show that he has done something for the people. I think it’s fair to ask: What have you done for your district?” he asked.
“He needs to show that he has proven something,” he added.
Tamano, who belongs to the NP senatorial slate of projected standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar, also cited the long period of time in which Escudero could have best helped his province, since he served as Sorsogon congressman for three terms or nine years until 2007, when he became senator.
“Chiz is very intelligent and articulate, but people will ask: What achievements has he done to deserve our support? He spent nine years as a congressman, it’s better if we have a basis to show how your district developed,” he added.
Tamano’s fellow NP senatorial candidate, former Cavite representative Gilbert Remulla, echoed the same sentiments.
The relationship between Escudero and Remulla, former colleagues in Congress, went sour in May 2007.
Escudero, who will be turning 40 on Oct. 10 and therefore qualified to run for president, is among the frontrunners in the surveys, ranking third in the June 19-22 survey of Social Weather Stations.
According to his website (www.chizescudero.com), the former congressman said one of the laws he helped pass was Republic Act 8980, entitled “An Act Promulgating a Comprehensive Policy and a National System for Early Childhood Care and Development.”
House records showed that in the nine years Escudero spent as congressman of the first district of Sorsogon, he helped pass eight laws – four broadcasting franchise laws, two local measures including Sorsogon cityhood, one renaming the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) to DepEd and the last regulating the practice of veterinary medicine.
His father, Salvador III, a veterinarian by profession, has since taken his congressional seat back, following the election of his son to the Senate in 2007.