The cat is now out of the bag. Maybe unknown to many Lakas stalwarts, the aborted exodus to the Nacionalista Party has the blessing of the officers of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) – Bohol Chapter, this according to reliable party sources. This revelation came in the wake of the recent manifesto signed by 11 Lakas mayors, four of whom are top officials of the LMP. According to the same source, it was the organization that allowed to be used in the defection of several administration mayors to the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manuel Villar last year. In its initial foray of raiding the dominant Bohol party, at least 25 Lakas jumped over to Villar's party only to make a turnabout when Gov. Erico Aumentado, then Bohol 's top party henchman, came home from an overseas trip. The LMP along with former league presidents the likes of Mayors Exuperio Lloren of Jagna and Josephine Socorro Jumamoy of Inabanga joined their president Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas in what appeared to be a party revolt when they assailed the leadership of both in the provincial and national levels. Cong. Edgar Chatto is the provincial Lakas chair succeeding Aumentado.i

But the mayors' league officers kept hiding under the cloak of Lakas until recent intervening events made no secret of their covert acts. The intervening events included their long-calculated anti-Lakas leadership manifesto which they finally decided to be published as a paid newspaper advertisement just last Sunday. The LMP, which Mayor Salinas heads, was responsible in being caught “to waltzing with the enemy”. It was the same league that mobilized the 25 town mayors who their took oath to Villar last year. According to a press release from the camp of Cong. Chatto, it was Mayor Lloren who was tagged as having facilitated the “treacherous move” to Lakas using the LMP with “authority” from the league head. Lloren is the past league president. The same press source said LMP office personnel were used to contact as many mayors preceding the mass oath-taking to Villar's party. Those who were sworn to Villar's NP were later made by then Lakas provincial party chairman Aumentado to “reaffirm” their loyalty to Lakas. Both Salinas and Lloren signed the manifesto otherwise believed to be authored and composed not by them or any of their fellow signatories. Ex-LMP head Josephine Socorro Jumamoy, now a board member, cast her lot to the manifesto, too.

This belief has led to a straight question---and a “test to the signatories' honesty”---of who wrote the manifesto, which substantially dealt with the revocation of the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) of Aumentado. The manifesto read obviously in defense of Aumentado over the CONA issue. Other developments precluding the signing of the manifesto was the bolting of Vice Governor Julius Caesar Herrera and former Provincial Administrator Tomas Abapo, Jr., Aumentado's alter ego, as standard bearers of the NP. At the time of their party somersault, a Second District Lakas mayor informed a candidate belonging to another district that Herrera's and Abapo's abandonment of Lakas to join Villar had the “blessing” of Aumentado. The said informant is now one of the signatories to the manifesto that also attacked the national leadership of the administration party. Salinas admitted to the media after their manifesto that their moves were calculated. He was reported to be in the political meeting called by the governor Friday night.

LAKAS BENEFITS FROM TREACHERY

The Lakas-Kampi-CMD led in Bohol by new provincial party chairman was not surprised by the manifesto of some of its members who have long been NP by heart but pretended to be Lakas diehards. Board Member Concepcion Lim, Chatto's runningmate for vice governor, thanked those who had been suspected of party treachery and double-cross have finally identified themselves. Lim, provincial federation president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), said the party can now be guided according to its true worthy. She was not bothered by those who plotted against the party since “it was their choice.” Rep. Roberto Cajes of the second district said they ought to counter any act inimical to the party. Chatto, the overwhelming favorite for governor in a recent survey, said despite threats from within the party, what happened to the Lakas hierarchy confirmed what they have been suspecting all along. He said they have long been expecting the “full-Lakas but non-Gibo” partymates to openly claim they are disgruntled because it was their excuse of bolting the party that catapulted them to power. The protracted move has otherwise long been known, said the party leaders who got a strong manifestation of support from mayors and other bigwigs as soon as Lakas was attacked by a “handful of party hypocrites and traitors.”

SALINAS CAUGHT BY THEIR OWN BAIT

The group with whom Salinas is now openly identified had cajoled him into running for congressman but left him in the dark as of part of the plot may be unknown to him. Meanwhile, Chatto, made it clear that there was no commitment on his part for Salinas ' congressional aspiration. In the beginning, the first term mayor had decided to stay put until an NP group and, sooner, a Second District mayor acting like an NP emissary urged him to run for Congress. Later, a top provincial official prodded him to accept the offer. Chatto learned all this from Salinas himself, whom he advised to be cautious because a negotiation was then pushed between Chatto and Herrera involving the first district. The solon did not commit to the mayor for the time being for the same reason. Salinas did not get the official Lakas nomination for Congress because of the subsequent Lakas-Kampi-CMD-LDP coalition, which named former Gov. Rene Relampagos as the official bet for congressman. Salinas accused Chatto and other partymates of betrayal, a false claim which the mayor and his “pseudo-Gibo, pro-Villar” group capitalized to destroy the trust and confidence mustered by the present Lakas leadership.

The group blasted in their manifesto Chatto and others supposedly for the absence of coalition consultation process. Finally, Aumentado, former provincial party chairman, loudly announced and endorsed Relampagos as the coalition official bet for congressman in a party meeting at Hotel La Roca here late last November. However, Salinas himself and his fellow manifesto signatories did not include Aumentado in their blame, surprising the true-Gibo party leaders whom they exclusively lambasted. The provincial party chairmanship was turned over by Aumentado to Chatto only during the said meeting at La Roca which was already closer to the deadline of the filing of candidacy. According to other party members, this was orchestrated so that the pro-Villar mayors, particularly in the Second District, could be already assured of Lakas CONAs. This would leave Chatto, as new party head in Bohol, little space and time to find candidates who could deliver for the Lakas presidential bet. The plot was likewise suspected as designed to put at risk the very candidacy of Chatto, whom his trusting partymates believe is the only in the present crop of Bohol leaders possessing the qualities that can equal---if not surpass---Aumentado. Sources said Salinas announced in his town days ago that they will go for Villar and Herrera. He mouthed the same in his meeting with close leaders last year during which he also bragged about his then congressional bid.

WHO BETRAYS WHOM?

According to party insiders, Aumentado and Cajes last year agreed in principle to support each other as Lakas partymates. The congressman was at that time already decided to run for vice governor in Chatto's slate. They mutually promised that neither of them would betray by putting a contender against either of them Meanwhile, Abapo was floated for vice governor against Cajes until the provincial administrator of Aumentado was to become later the very candidate for the same position under the Villar banner. This was believed to be one of the straws that broke the camel's back. In a live interview, Secretary General Francis Manglapus had then explained party treachery as causing the revocation then of Aumentado's CONA, but which was reinstated later following appeal. Cajes, now running for Trinidad Mayor replacing his wife Mayor Judith Cajes, who also got CONA to challenge Aumentado's congressional comeback, sticks to the party and campaigns for the Lakas presidential bet. (Ven rebo Arigo)