The rift between rival factions within Lakas-Kampi Bohol worsened as they swapped charges with neither side showing any sign of backing off. Stung by the position paper which was published exclusively in the Post last week and later in Cebu's Sun*Star Daily, the camp identified with Rep. Edgar Chatto launched its own broadsides in a statement on the issue. In what has been turning out to be a war of position papers, the Chatto camp came out with its own statement entitled “Padayon Bol-anon” in reaction to the position paper published by the so-called “Group of 11”. “We, the officers and members of the Lakas Kampi CMD in the Province of Bohol are very much saddened by the recent developments in the ranks of our party,” the statement said. Noting that they were all part of the team which led Bohol to where it is today – one of the top tourist destinations of the country.

“However, we lament the viciousness the present political campaign has taken. Instead of trying to tell our fellow Boholanos where we want to take them in the next ten years, we are being hit by those who are supposed to be part of our team using language such as ‘hypocrisy' and ‘treachery' which are being used even in propaganda materials and published in local, regional and national newspapers. We cannot allow ourselves to be drawn to such hate campaign,” the group said. Still in the spirit of respecting each other's right to pursue the respective goals, the statement said “we welcome this development where those who have been pretending to be with us have shown their true colors”. The pro-Chatto group said they believe there was no way to avert it. “We may be hurt and prejudiced but we harbour no rancour over the expressed withdrawal of support by these colleagues because our goal is to heal Bohol ,” they added.

Vowing to work for the continued development of Bohol , the mainstream Lakas group said they stand committed and united “for a noble cause of working together in making Bohol the province we can truly be proud of”. “We recommit ourselves to a different type of servant leadership – one which is passionately convinced that sustainable development through people empowerment is the key to genuine progress,” the added. They said that the majority “and most sincere loyal leaders” of the Lakas Kampi CMD joined by supporters and friends boldly declare their full trust and confidence in the “leadership, integrity and honesty” of the provincial leadership headed by Rep. Edgar Chatto and Gov. Rene Dominguez. As this developed, the “Group of 11” came out with another position paper entitled “Excuses, Alibis And Lies But No Answers” as a rejoinder to Chatto with two more signatories.

The same signatories of the first position paper entitled “No More Hypocrisy and Treachery” namely Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas, incumbent League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Bohol president; Jagna Mayor Exuperio Lloren, LMP Bohol immediate past president; second district board member Josephine Socorro Jumamoy, also LMP Bohol past president; Danao Mayor Louis Thomas Gonzaga, LMP Bohol executive vice president; Mayors Theresa Camacho, Getafe; Telesforo Balagosa, Lila; Jono Jumamoy, Inabanga; Elsa Tirol, Buenavista; Juanario Item, Talibon; and Germinio Relampagos, Dagohoy; and Jagna Councilor Senen Lloren, Philippine Councilors League Bohol vice president who is running for third district board member. The new signatories were Mabini Mayor Stephen Rances and Dr. Mutya Tirol-Macuno, second district board member. The group said Chatto himself vindicated them in the manner he conducted himself after they came out with their position paper. “In his many interviews on the controversy, he has refused to take responsibility for the turmoil in the Party which only proves that he is not a leader in the real sense of the word,” the rejoinder said.

The rebel faction said that if they take Chatto at his word, the fault lies in the national party leadership for choosing the candidate in the case of ex-Gov. Rene Relampagos over Salinas in the first district and in revoking although later reinstating the certificate of nomination and acceptance in the case of Gov. Erico Aumentado in the second district. They said that unfortunately, the evidence is not on the side of Chatto, revealing that last Nov. 24, a letter was sent to Aumentado informing him of the move to “support the forging of a coalition agreement with the LDP”. “Information and consultation are two different things. As the letter proves, Gov. Aumentado, who was then still the Lakas Provincial Party Chairman, was not involved in the decision of the alleged Lakas-LDP coalition and the choice of ex-Gov. Relampagos as congressman for the 1st district of Bohol,” they added. They sarcastically commented that “it is even the fault of ( Salinas ) that he thought there was an endorsement for him” from Chatto as Lakas official candidate “when there was none.” “It is also the fault of Gov. Aumentado because he was then the Provincial Chairman,” the group commented further.

The signatories said these “excuses, alibis and lies” serve only to confirm their position that Chatto does not possess the qualities to lead the party provincial chapter “much less to serve as provincial governor.” “A Provincial Party Chairman who can only come up with excuses, alibis and lies instead of taking concrete steps to solve the problem is not the kind of leader that we need. At best he is inutile and ineffective. At worst he is insincere and treacherous,” the strongly-worded rejoinder added. They said that granting for the sake of argument that all his pronouncements are true, “which facts do not support”, the signatories said it does not absolve Chatto of anything. “A real leader should be able to protect his men. He was not able to protect Mayor Salinas, his own party mate, who was deprived of the Lakas Cona in favor of ex-Gov. Relampagos, who is from the rival LDP. No excuses and alibis would justify this, not even the fiction that there is a Lakas-LDP coalition in the province,” they added. They said a real leader should have acted in favor of Aumentado in the case of his Cona revocation.

“If (Chatto) was not a party to the plot as he claims, he should have immediately taken up the matter with the national Party leadership at least to give due process to Gov. Aumentado if not to immediately reinstate the Cona to him,” they added. The group said no one will believe the claim that Chatto had no hand in the choice of Relampagos as official Lakas candidate in the first district. “The reason is obvious: he thinks that Loon is bigger than Catigbian so he would rather take the risk of incurring the ire of Mayor Salinas than losing Loon,” they added. At the same time, they recalled that everyone remembers that not too long ago, he helped Relampagos win in Balilihan over Aumentado “so he now wants to collect political debts.” “Aside from Loon which is perceived to be the bailiwick of ex-Gov. Relampagos, Cong. Chatto will also benefit from the support of LDP candidates in the towns of Batuan, Duero , Getafe , Panglao and Sierra-Bullones. This is good for Cong. Chatto but bad for the Lakas candidates in these towns,” they added.

In the case of the second district conflict, the group said only a strong lobby from the two congressmen would force the national leadership to reject Aumentado and choose Mayor Cajes. The group said their actuations even after the Cona to Aumentado was reinstated prove that they were together all along. They added that in at least three towns, the incumbent Lakas mayors were unceremoniously discarded but Chatto has not lifted a finger to stop it,” they noted. “The issue here is leadership. We can do our worst but if Cong. Chatto is a good leader, he will be able to make the Party strong again. But considering that he continues to refuse to call a Party Provincial meeting until this time, it shows his real character. He failed to at least inform us of the supposed coalition with the LDP, he failed to inform Gov. Aumentado that his Cona was revoked, he failed to inform Lakas mayors in all three Districts that they will encounter challenges from the LDP,” they grumbled. In the face of all these problems confronting party mates, they said all Chatto has done is wash his hands. “It is good for him because he is the beneficiary. But what about his foot soldiers who have done their share for the Party in the past? Will they survive the wars they are fighting in their towns because Cong. Chatto's hands are clean?,” they asked.