Bello to broker peace between 2 warring Isabela pols

ILAGAN, Isabela — Always a peace broker.

Taking a respite from peace talks with the communists, the government’s chief negotiator, former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, has taken on another challenge.

The task: reconciling Isabela’s two warring politicians — Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. and second district Rep. Edwin Uy.

"I see no reason why Gov. Dy and Rep. Uy cannot come to terms," said Bello, who was here last Friday to witness his son, Fiel, take his oath of office as sectoral representative in the provincial board.

While discussions with the communists are on hold, Bello said he could broker "peace talks" to end any misunderstanding between Dy and Uy.

Bello is reportedly eyeing Isabela’s first congressional district seat presently occupied by Rep. Rodolfo Albano.

Uy was vice governor to Dy’s brother, former governor Benjamin Dy, before he was elected second district congressman, a position which Gov. Dy incidentally had vacated.

The animosity between Gov. Dy, president of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and Uy, provincial chairman of the Lakas-CMD, worsened when the latter accused the former of having a hand in the alleged massive fraud committed in the May 14 special polls in the province’s fourth congressional district.

The special elections pitted Dr. Asuncion Abaya (Lakas-CMD), widow of the late Rep. Antonio Abaya, against former provincial board member Giorgidi Aggabao.

Aggabao was declared winner amid protests from Abaya’s camp. Based on the district canvassing held at the provincial capitol, he enjoyed a margin of more than 13,000 votes over Abaya.

This contrasted with the records of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, which showed that Mrs. Abaya won by 4,000 votes in the precinct level canvassing.

Bishop Sergio Utleg of the Diocese of Ilagan and Bishop Eulogio Pandongan of the Diocese of Santiago City (Iglesia Filipina Independiente) have branded the special polls as the "most fraudulent" ever in Isabela.

To get even with Uy, Dy exposed the former’s alleged P2-million unliquidated cash advances when he was still vice governor from 1998 to 2001.

Dy’s disclosure prompted the Commission on Audit to conduct a post-audit, the results of which are still unavailable.

Bello, Cagayan Valley chairman of the Lakas-CMD, said the issues that have driven a wedge between Dy and Uy are "negotiable" and could be settled even without much "back-channeling."

"Sa totoo lang wala naman silang dapat pag-awayan (In truth, they don’t have anything to quarrel about)," he said.

Bello said the last time he saw Dy and Uy together was during the 125th Isabela Day celebration. The two, he recalled, were even cajoling each other.