W hat has Gov. Ed Panlilio done to make Pampanga a model province – that we now should elect him President?

Increase revenues? But that is what every governor is expected to do. Let us condemn the Arroyos and the Lapids for their graft in pocketing those income from the business of aggregates that was made possible not by any human factor but by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

Editor’s Note: With this initial article by Mr. Paglinawan about Governor Panlilio, we are inviting writers (or even the presidential aspirant’s public-relations team) to answer the question of what have the presidential candidates done to, and in, their respective home provinces. After all, before one can change for the better the nation, he (or she) must have been able to change for the better first his (or her) home province, right? For how can a Filipino leader love the country (as a whole) if he (or she) cannot love first his (or her) home province and region?

But crowning a man for complying with his basic job description? Boy let us not lower the bar. The minimum requirement for any government employee is public trust, as public office is public trust. If you like him for that, then let us move mountains to re-elect him as governor so he can do more good for Kapampangans.

When Governor Lapid left Pampanga in 2007 losing to Ed Panlilio, the province was ranked 27th in terms of economic growth in the entire country. Where is it today?

Pampanga's cities are faced with a population growth higher than national average. By what record proportions has he increased investments and employment opportunities to cope with the increased human density? And please, do not factor in Clark Air Base because Governor Panlilio has nothing to do with that economic zone.

D oes he have any flagship projects? Has he increased the number of schools, build more markets, farm-to-market roads and bridges, and post-harvest facilities?

What about agricultural increments, has there been any perks? Where is the bumper harvest that he has helped create?

What about tax collection, other than from gravel and sand?

Is there any capability-building programs and attendant infrastructure that have been built to increase employability of its residents, within and without Pampanga?

What about tourism? What about improvements in health and social services?

Pampanga is second only to Albay in terms of vulnerability to climate changes and natural disasters. What local emergency preparedness has he increased since he was sworn into office?

What about crime? How dramatic has been the drop in crime rate?  

Has he eradicated illegal gambling in the province? Has he even minimized it?

T oday as we speak, I surf the Internet and find nothing that Governor Panlilio has done except to make sure income from Mt. Pinatubo products get to the San Fernando treasury, and of course assure his fanatics that he will prosecute Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for corruption and plunder.

The last time he went big-time news, he could not even prevent some rowdy demonstrators from trespassing close to his office, as proximate as they went kicking the doors of his office. What a classic security breach. Imagine this being repeated with NPAs and Abu Sayaffs milling around Jose P. Laurel Avenue fronting Malacanang.

I know that jueteng is very much in peak season in Pampanga, and the man is helpless. In fact, he now tries to hoodwink us to make this helplessness, his catapult to get close to the presidency.

He even argues he possesses the appointive power for the provincial police commander and riles that this has been deprived from him - definitely a clear ignorance of the law. If you don't believe me, ask Jay Caedo.

Now tell me, how in heavens name is he going to prosecute his comprovinciana Gloria?

Susmaryosep! Tigilan na natin itong mga hallelujahs sa mga pare. I am willing to concede that those who have rightfully earned the cassock or the Roman collar ought to harbingers of morality in our midst. But please, please let us sober up in the fact that it is not gospel truth that this is guarantee for competence for the highest office of the land.

Editor's Note: Please be reminded again that the views and opinions expressed by our columnists and/or contributors do not reflect necessarily the views and opinions of the website's editor, webmaster and other staff members.

What the Philippines deserves today is a clear road map from presidentiables, supported by established and concrete and historical proof of achievement. Indeed, we are in biblical times – we need a national leader who has built his/her reputation on rock-solid foundations with scars and track records to show, and Governor Panlilio has yet built his reputation on sand and gravel.

What the Philippines needs today is a Nehemiah who besides moral ascendancy, can rise over divisions, inspire volunteerism and sacrifice, and rebuild the walls of our modern-day Jerusalem. Governor Panlilio cannot even put his provincial act together, as most local government officials are not on his side.

R emember another Kapampangan who like a Pied Piper dressed in yellow, made us believe that after a gruesome dictatorship, we can improve our patrimony. That was moral leadership at its best. But instead on improving on the dictators gains and reforming his mistakes, she took us to the other extreme – free fall.

She bequeathed to us a pluralistic political system caged in highly-centralized authority, thus making it possible for legalese to dominate over rule of law and good governance and make it easy for sophisticated-and-pedigreed crooks to treat our treasury as their personal banks. She would not even prosecute the mastermind of the assassination of her own husband because it could be a close relative. But worst of all, like Douglas MacArthur, after World War II, she broke loose the gates for the homecoming of the country's oligarchs. Well, she has a long list of faux pas.

Worst of all, she mothballed a nuclear plant that could have fueled cheap 600 megawatts into our production capability just because her left-leaning Cabinet claimed it was graft-riddled and had "construction" defects. What she did not realize was this crucial mistake would not only condemn the entire Luzon grid into subsequent catastrophic brownouts sending our economy to the pits but have our great grandchildren pay for costs and interests for an infrastructure project that we borrowed tons of dollars for yet one that never saw daylights. I know this statement would create a tremor within the green community but hold your horses if you please, and realize that right after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, experts sent an engineering team to Bataan and found that the facility survived the cataclysmic debacle.

I hate to sound condescending but citing an oft-repeated journalistic analysis of her time – what did we expect anyway from a mere housewife? With Ed Panlilio, what direction of change will he take us? For now, without categorical answers to my questions above, it is more like a game of chance, not change.

This man is playing "jueteng" with our minds.

So puede ba, Panlilians, run around the block for half-an-hour and afterwards, reward yourselves with a cold shower. If that still don't earn you an honest epiphany on this issue, just like one advertisement – face the bathroom mirror, slap yourselves twice across your face for thank God you needed that! # # #