Opposition courting Lapid to bolt Lakas and run for senator

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Opposition leaders are now courting Gov. Lito Lapid to abandon the administration Lakas-CMD party and run for senator under their wings.

This, after Lapid was reportedly "hurt" and "disappointed" by an executive order which President Arroyo recently issued, transferring the authority to collect fees and other revenues from lucrative sand quarrying in Pampanga to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

"Gov. Lapid is studying the proposals," said a source close to Lapid.

The source said groups identified with businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, and even those urging actor Fernando Poe Jr. to run for president have met with Lapid to urge him to bolt the Lakas-CMD and run for the Senate under the opposition.

Mrs. Arroyo reportedly invited Lapid to meet with her at Malacañang yesterday, but the source said the governor notified the President last Tuesday that he would not be able to make it.

The President has issued Executive Order 224 depriving the provincial governments of Pampanga and Tarlac of the authority to collect sand quarrying fees and transferring it to the MGB, an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

"Lapid was deeply hurt and disappointed," the source said.

The source cited speculations that the Palace move was meant to pressure Lapid to give way to the gubernatorial bid of presidential son Vice Gov. Mikey Arroyo who earlier had announced that he would run for congressman in Pampanga’s second district. Lapid’s son Mark also intends to run for governor.

"With the President’s brother Arturo Macapagal announcing that he would also run for congressman in the second district, it seems the plan is to avoid a family conflict by grooming Mikey for governor instead," the source said.

During his administration, former President Joseph Estrada also deprived the provincial government of the authority to collect quarrying fees, transferring it to the Natural Resources Development Corp. (NRDC), the DENR’s corporate arm.

Lapid was also slapped with various cases in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with alleged anomalies in quarry fee collections. He, however, was later cleared of the charges. The Arroyo administration later returned to the provincial government the authority to collect quarry fees.

Provincial administrator Benalfre Galang, who used to head the provincial quarrying task force, said EO 224 contravened the Local Government Code, particularly Section 138, which, he said, solely gives to the provincial government "the authority to issue permits and collect fees from quarrying operations in areas less than five hectares."

"The President does not have control powers in such cases, but only a supervisory role," he said.

Galang said the provincial government has filed with the court a petition questioning the legality of EO 224.

The respondents named in the petition included Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun.

"We just don’t want to openly clash with the President," Galang said.

While Tarlac was also specified in EO 224, Galang said this was done to make it appear that Pampanga was not the sole target. But he said that quarrying in Tarlac is minimal unlike in Pampanga.

"The question is why did the executive order zero in on Pampanga when there are quarrying operations all over the country?" he asked.

He debunked reports of anomalies in quarry fee collections, pointing out that when the NRDC took control of quarrying, it remitted only about P300,000 monthly to the provincial government, or about P3 million a year.

"Records show that last year, the provincial government earned some P25 million from quarry fees," he said.

Galang claimed that during the NRDC’s term, funds raised from quarry fees in Pampanga were merely used to pay the salaries of the agency’s personnel throughout the country.

"The earnings were even used to construct a P30-million building of the DENR along Roxas Boulevard, despite the many projects needing funding in Pampanga," he claimed.