After holding on their verbal punches for sometime, erstwhile allies Gov. Erico Aumentado and Cong. Roberto Cajes maintained their civil relations until last week when the second district solon commented something uncomplimentary on the reinstatement of his mentor's Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) as a congressional wannabe in his old Congress seat. Cajes was a creation of Gov. Aumentado until a conflict erupted between the two arising from the congressman's wife ambition to contest the post also eyed in a comeback bid by the governor. The Cajes' statement made Wednesday in a radio interview was apparently the “last straw that broke the camel's back” providing the trigger mechanism for Aumentado to lash back. It also served as the wedge that drove two former allies resulting in the parting of ways as Lakas-Kampi CMD stalwarts. Asked about the state of the governor's bid as Lakas official bet, Cajes, without batting an eyelash, said that the CONA's reinstatement was not meant to clothe him the authority as the ruling party's official candidate but was just like a “lollipop out to appease him”. It was enough for the governor not to take the statement sitting down. Visibly piqued by the Cajes' tirade, Aumentado mounted his own defense by turning the table on his congressional successor by lashing out at the solon's public works projects undertaken during his watch his as three- term congressman. Zeroing in on several public work projects Cajes' implemented, Aumentado waved documents during his weekly Governor's Report last Friday about alleged anomalies in second district projects.
QUESTIONABLE PROJECT
He made special mention of a P10 million road project which the governor found to be irregular. He said the project involved a well-paved road section in barangay San Jose in Talibon. The governor said while the road showed no signs of deterioration, it was covered with a new coat of asphalt in an overlay project that raised the hackles of nearby residents who witnessed the wastage of public funds. A picture was shown by the governor manifesting the contrast in color of asphalt and cement of the road project. According to sources close to the governor, the congressman cannot escape responsibility over the project because a billboard did show that the project was through the effort of Cong. Cajes. Contacted to react, Cong. Cajes said he was not aware that the funding of the asphalt overlay project came from his Countryside Development Fund. He said what he knew about the project was that it was a regular maintenance fund from the Second Highway Engineering District based in Ubay. It was suspected that the project came from the road user's tax of which Cajes' district was one of the recipients.
Expressing concern of questionable projects in the district, Aumentado said he was reviving a crusade he founded which has become the hallmark of his administration. Dubbed as the Crusade for Transparency Against Corruption, the governor said as the bedrock of his administration, he will see to it that questionable projects in the second district will not escape its probing eye. At the same time, the governor said, the crusade will also deal on reports that Cajes maintained a stable of favorite contractors who are not from Bohol. It was reported that the favored contractors come from Cebu and Leyte . The governor even identified the names of the three favorite contractors. But Cajes blurted back about accusations that he has played favorites in relation to undertakings of public works in his district. The congressman said his so-called favorite contractors were the same ones used by Aumentado when he was second district congressman. During the same Governor's Report, Gov. Aumentado hinted of an impending investigation not of his own initiative but from some quarters regarding the vehicular accident involving the congressman.
CAJES DENIES MISHAP
Reacting on the governor's tirade about the road mishap, Cajes said in a radio interview that he was an “unfortunate target of incorrect stories” of a road accident involving a sports utility vehicle registered to his daughter. A story published last Sunday reported that the incumbent congressman and mayoralty candidate of Trinidad town survived the car crash in barangay Oy, Loboc after his driver lost control of the steering wheel. The report continued that Rep. Cajes suffered contusions and limped as he got out of the wrecked vehicle after it smashed onto an electric post Friday last week. The vehicle, registered to Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) national president Jane Censoria Cajes, the solon's daughter, was driven by the lawmaker's personal driver together with one of his police escorts who were on their way to Trinidad. The police security detail was identified as PO2 Dante del Rosario Jr. who escaped unhurt from the road mishap. The solon's driver, Richard Cerio however suffered injuries and was rushed to a hospital. A furious Rep. Cajes challenged those who “concocted the malicious stories to a tennis match, a feat which any injured person could not do”. “I am in Trinidad right now, and anybody who has doubts can see for themselves whether I am injured or not,” the solon remarked. A Boholano blog-site over the internet also reported the incident which said that the congressman was critically injured and airlifted to a hospital in Cebu City .
The website likewise revealed that several high-powered firearms were recovered from the wrecked vehicle of Cajes. It was a two vehicle convoy, Rep. Cajes clarified. The solon was on the second car following the SUV. “There were many people at the crash site and they could attest that my police escort was the only one carrying his service firearm. Nothing more,” Cajes said. Based on the account of PO2 Del Rosario, they were on the way to Trinidad town from Tagbilaran City when the driver lost control of the steering wheel after he tried to avoid colliding with another vehicle. Del Rosario said the road was narrow and slippery which made it hard for the driver to maneuver away from the other vehicle. They rammed into an electrical post at the roadside wrecking the SUV. Asked to comment if the car was of recent model, Cajes corrected that the vehicle was bought in 2005. It was a 2005 model SUV and the Cajeses became the fourth owner of the vehicle. The congressman showed the car's registration papers indicating its model and other specifications.
WIFE'S BID
The second district lawmaker, in another interview yesterday, talked at length, the status of his wife in her bid to succeed him in his vacated Congress seat. He said there's no way that his wife was withdrawing from the congressional race after she was recognized as the official candidate of the national Lakas directorate. Cajes added that the only way for his wife to withdraw her bid was for the Lakas hierarchy to tell her to reconsider her bid in favor of another candidate, in this case, Gov. Aumentado. According to Cajes, since it was the Lakas party who fielded his wife for the congressional slot, it will also be the same party that will persuade Trinidad Mayor Judith Cajes to forego her congressional ambition. As to the impasse on whether who is who between the two in the manner of determining who has possessed the official CONA, Cajes left it to the sound discretion of the Comelec Law Department to untangle the conflict in the scramble for official nomination in the second district congressional derby. The lady Cajes insisted that her CONA is also official even if Aumentado's was revoked and then reinstated.
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