Lawmakers slam Noy for early politicking

MANILA, Philippines - Administration and opposition lawmakers scored yesterday President Aquino for his early politicking after he announced some possible administration senatorial candidates in the 2013 elections, as the nation grapples with the global economic slowdown and latest natural calamity in Mindanao.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said it was “too early and counter-productive for the President to engage in such partisan political games at this time.”

“He (Aquino) should focus on his duties first and avoid tainting his actions with partisan politics,” Casiño said.

Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said that with the huge problems the country is facing right now, “it is inappropriate and in poor taste to be discussing the 2013 elections.”

“This administration is too focused on politicking that it forgets to find solutions and address present issues that affect Filipinos,” Magsaysay said. “How unfortunate for our country that governance is not the focus, but politics.”

Aquino, in an interview with ABS-CBN, mentioned possible senatorial candidates in the administration ticket, including Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon, Customs Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, re-electionist Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, and former Akbayan party-list congresswoman Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.

Biazon, Lim and Baraquel ran and lost in the 2010 senatorial polls.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, however, defended Aquino for his pronouncements.

“While it may be too early to be discussing politics, there is nothing wrong in floating possible senatorial candidates as long as the administration is not blinded by its moral obligation to zero in on prevailing socio-economic ills,” Castelo said.

“As it is, the President is at the forefront of these issues,” he said.