28 FEBRUARY 2007

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LACSON THE columnist recalls that Lilia Pineda held consultations for her gubernatorial plan as early as 1999. She confirms this, but says that she held back to give the young Lapid a chance to prove his worth.

The governor has assessed his leadership to be "very effective," arguing that he works directly with the province's more than 300 barangay captains. But Bacolor Mayor Romeo Dungca, vice president of the Pampanga Mayors' League and one of the 17 mayors who broke away from the Lapids and moved to President Arroyo's Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) last November, says they pushed Lilia Pineda to go for the capitol because "no one at the moment has the resolve, resources, and popularity to fight the Lapids." Recently, another mayor bolted from the side of the Lapids, leaving them with only four out of the province's 22 mayors.

Former Pampanga Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc, though, hints that if Pampanga were to choose only between the incumbent and Lilia Pineda for governor, the province would end up the loser either way.

"I am not convinced that the two are running out of principles," said Bondoc, the House's former deputy majority leader, when he confirmed last month that business leaders were egging him to run as governor. "They will not slug it out because they want to serve us Kapampangans. They just want to divide the spoils in illegal quarry and illegal gambling."

Bondoc lost to Mark Lapid in the 2004 elections. Today, says the former legislator, some business leaders especially fear the rise — by proxy — of Bong Pineda to the capitol and the legitimacy his wife's win could lend to him.

But Laudisima Aluarte, a 73-year-old farmer who was among those who attended the New Year's Eve rally, says her choice for governor will not be based on quarry or jueteng issues. She says, "Ing buri kung abalu nanu talaga ing balak dang gawan para kareng pakakalulung kalupa ku (What I want to really know is their plans for poor people like me)."

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