With the once dominant political party now torn apart between the originals and the rebels, the former was making a gallant stand Monday to remain united no matter what the cost in political terms. In what appeared to be a show of force, the camp of Cong. Edgar Chatto made known to all and sundry that what remains of the once ruling Lakas-Kampi CMD, was still a force to reckon with notwithstanding the threat of dissension by disgruntled elements. Party stawarts the likes of Chatto, Cong. Roberto Cajes, Board Member Concepcion Lim, the group's vice gubernatorial entry and former governor Rene Relampagos have ganged up Gov. Erico Aumentado as having committed “acts inimical to the party's interest”. In so many words, the four, in various degrees of pinpoinping culpability, accused the governor of treachery and deception to the party's ideals. Although former secretary Arthur Yap was there in Monday's gathering, he was careful not to unleash harsh rhetorics against the governor. Chatto, made mincemeat of Aumentado's prominent role in the brewing rebellion now engulfing Bohol 's Lakas party. For his part, Cajes, now a bitter enemy of Aumentado, after his wife challenged the governor's second district congressional bid, was equally biting in his diatribes against his former mentor.

BACKDOOR ENTRY

Relampagos whose backdoor entry to the party stirred the hornest's nest also dished out his own share of Aumentado-bashing by way of telling the Monday audience that it was the governor who directed him to issue CONAs to mayors in at least two towns in the second district. Relampagos' Laban Ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP)issued the CONAs of Mayor Theresa Camacho of Getafe and Amalia Tirol of Ubay accordingly due to Aumentado's request. The legitimacy of the former governor's Lakas affiliation was the alleged coalition agreement forged by party higher-ups. But the governor was quick to point out that there was no coalition to speak up and if there was any, it was only through the invention of Chatto and company. Gov. Erico Aumentado's contention on the coalition hoax was butressed by no less than LDP chair Edgardo Angara who told him that if there was any partnership between Lakas and LDP it was only in 1995. The LDP coalition fiction was seconded by DILG Sec. Ronnie Puno, according to Aumentado.

This provided the trigger mechanism for Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas to revolt against the party when he was frustrated to make good his threat as Lakas first district congressional bet. The mayor turned out to be like “ the man who would king and never was”. For her part, Board Member Lim a family friendof the Aumentados said that as dyed-in-the-wool party mate, she was saddened to have known that her rival for vice governor appeared to have enjoyed the blessing of the governor. Lim mentioned about instances where Tomas Abapo, Jr., her opponent to the position, was enjoying exposure in tarpaulins bearing the pictures of the governor and V-Gov. Julius Ceasar Herrera. The lady board member called the attention of the governor about the Abapo caper and there was no telling if her protestations were heeded.

GUV REACTS

With the gang of Lakas holdouts ganging up on Aumentado, the governor who was not known to chicken out from a good fight mustered his own forum to air his side of the party conflict. Tossing back to his detractors the issue of treachery and deception, Aumentado told his critics calmly just “be honest”. The “be honest” repartee was a take from Chatto's camp manifesto last Sunday calling the governor to just be honest in his role of the Lakas rebellion. In his weekly the Governor's Report, Aumentado expressed surprise why as Lakas original he seemed “to become a stranger in his own house”. He was reacting to calls by his partymates in the Chatto camp for him to leave the party he founded as if herding him to join the group of Sen. Manuel Villar's Nacionalista Party. Actually, it was Villar's NP where all this commotion of the Lakas party started. The bolting of 25 Lakas mayors and the subsequent defection of Herrera to the NP triggered the suspicion that it was the governor who facilitated the exodus to the NP.

But to save Aumentado from heighthening this suspicion, it was no less than the governor himself who arranged for the return of the Lakas to where they actually belonged.The 25 mayors had since made the dramatic comeback thru the courtesy of Aumentado until the Salinas et al., revolt. But as it turned out it was“not all spice and everything nice” as far as Lakas was concerned. With Aumentado's credibility under scrutiny, the Lakas faction of Chatto was emphatic as ever in its suspicion that the former party chair was the unseen hand on the series of manifestoes calling for Lakas members to rise up in arms against the group. For three consecutive Sundays, a loose coalition of Lakas diehards led by Catigbian Mayor Salinas, Jagna Mayor Exuperio Lloren and Board Member Josephine Socorro Jumamoy verbalized their disgust over how the party was being ran and how it handled the controversial posting of candidates in some towns. (With reports from Ven Arigo)