Aumentado belies Cajes’ privilege speech allegations
BOHOL Gov. Erico Aumentado has expressed dismay and regret that his political protégé, Rep. Roberto Cajes of the 2nd District, “has become a master of lies and deception, and using his parliamentary immunity, has mounted wild allegations that only his mind can conceive.”
Aumentado issued this statement in answer to allegations Cajes made in a privilege speech late Wednesday afternoon.
He must have panicked when media reported the entry into Bohol of alleged hired “goons” from Misamis Occidental, Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro. Accordingly, they were met by a relative of the wife of a powerful second district official, the governor said.
“In all my political life – winning in all the elections where I was a candidate since 1967 to the present – I have never been known to employ the service of ‘goons’ to achieve victory. I abhor violence in any form, especially during electoral exercise that gores into the very essence of democracy,” he said.
“For the record, although I am a lieutenant colonel as reserved officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines , I do not even desire to own a gun, or go to target shooting practice like the congressman, because I have no love for weapons of death,” the governor emphasized.
“It is a pity that in his desire to remove Police Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza, he claims that the [Philippine National Police] PNP [provincial] director is a close relative of Mrs. Aumentado. The truth of the matter is that my wife has no relations either by consanguinity or affinity with the PNP director. She is ready to execute an affidavit under oath on the matter if the congressman would do the same,” he challenged Cajes.
Aumentado also said the congressman even went to the extent of lying when the latter claimed that the chief executive used lawyer Salvador Diputado as one of the anchormen of his weekly radio program The Governor Reports.
“For his information as well as the public’s, which already knows this fact, Atty. Diputado only attends the program with the members of the media to ask clarificatory questions which deal mainly on developmental programs and concerns,” he stressed.
“Instead of acting like the child who cried ‘Wolf!’, I earnestly invite Congressman Cajes to join the PPOC [Provincial Peace and Order Council] and me in our crusade for a clean, honest, peaceful and orderly elections on May 10, 2010 ,” he said.
The PPOC is prepared to do its best, together with the government agencies and all sectors of society concerned and all the candidates who do not believe in political violence and terrorism either, he added. Aumentado chairs the PPOC.
Likewise, the governor said, contrary to the allegations of the solon, Obenza did not endorse his application for authority to employ/avail/engage security personnel and bodyguard.
Aumentado just supported it with a copy of the news report of his ambush on February 13, 2004 by alleged NPA Sparu [New People's Army Special Partisan Unit], and the appropriate threat assessment by PO3 Ben Gurion Serohijos, noted by P/Senior Inspector Vener Pascual Santos, intelligence officer, of the Bohol Provincial Police Office, in a copy that he showed to the media.
“I respectfully urge the Comelec [Commission on Elections] to conduct impartial investigation before relieving, as demanded by the congressman, PSSupt. Anthony Obenza, because his relief would be a violation of the Comelec rule on transfer of officers and officials after January 10, 2010 and that the proper selection process must be followed – not just the whims of a barking legislator,” the governor added.
He said he hopes the congressman will stop fearing his own shadow and using his parliamentary immunity by making wild accusations which fall flat on his own face as the truth will always prevail.
“I welcome any congressional investigation on the issue of the Kuratong Baleleng so the truth can come out,” he said.
He also assured the congressman that he does not wish ill will of him nor would he countenance any harm done to him and his lady.
“But, for the records, the congressman has lots of enemies even from Trinidad town who are the subject of persecution. Some are facing charges in court in Bohol and in Quezon City ,” he said.
On the contrary, he added, his record speaks that “Aumentado is not vindictive.”
For his part, Diputado, editor of The Bohol Times and former president of the Bohol chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said it is very unfortunate that Cajes has maligned and destroyed his name and reputation in a forum where he is completely defenseless.
Diputado said this in reaction to the accusations hurled by Cajes during the January 20 session of the House of Representatives.
In his privilege speech, Cajes had described Diputado as “somebody who happens to be married to a Boholana, who has chosen to live in Bohol and savor the wealth of his wife’s family because he has no credibility in his home province.”
Diputado expressed surprise by the personal attack.
“I am just a humble legal practitioner who offers my legal services to anybody. I was retained by Governor Erico Aumentado as his legal counsel in the CONA [Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance] case before Comelec [Commission on Elections] Manila. My involvement in this case is purely professional. I don’t understand why Congressman Cajes, a fellow lawyer and priest at that, should attack my personal life,” Diputado said.
Cajes also warned Diputado “whose utterances had been recorded, that a lawyer shall employ only fair and honest means to attain the lawful objectives of his client and shall not present, participate in presenting or threatening to present unfounded charges to obtain an improper advantage in any case or proceeding.”
Diputado said he is wondering why Cajes should warn him for alleged ethical misconduct in the House of Representatives.
“If there is falsity in the pleading that I filed before the Comelec Law Department, he could easily challenge the same in his own pleading with his own evidence. There is no need to cloak his action with parliamentary immunity where I am not given the chance to answer his terribly unfair charges,” Diputado added.
He said he is just an ordinary legal practitioner with simple needs and wants. He comes from a poor but decent family in Negros Oriental. His parents taught him to be honest and God-fearing.
“I don’t have any credibility crisis in Negros Oriental or elsewhere. I’m wondering where he got that stupid idea. I know that I am not perfect but sure thing is, never in my life did I break my commitment to God. I don’t know about Congressman Cajes,” Diputado concluded.
Tags: aumentado, bodyguard, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro, cajes, CONA, democracy, Diputado, dismay, goons, KURATONG BALELENG, lieutenant colonel, Misamis Occidental, NPA Sparu, Obenza, PPOC, protégé, regret, Santos, Serohijos, violence
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