PNOY WILL NOT TOLERATE CHEATING, SAYS QUIMBO

MANILA, March 9, 2013-Team PNoy spokesman Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo on Saturday/Mar. 9 took exception to opposition claims that the appointment of Macabangkit Lanto to the Commission on Elections is part of a grand plan to rig the results of the midterm elections in May.

President Aquino, according to Quimbo, will not tolerate, much more, be involved, in any form of electoral fraud.

“Any insinuation to that effect is completely baseless and malicious. Such accusations only betray the ignorance of their knowledge of the President's personal history and conviction,” he said.

Quimbo pointed out that if there is anyone who has personally felt the pain of being victimized by electoral fraud, it is President Aquino himself.

“His father was cheated in 1978. His mother was robbed of victory in 1986. It was likewise the discovery of the electoral fraud that happened in 2004, that pushed the President to lead the opposition in 2007 to victory,” he said.

The President, according to Quimbo, has made unprecedented gains the last two years because of his “Daang Matuwid” program, because of the people's continued trust. Thus, a clean and credible election is important for the President.

“The baseless accusation against the President by UNA we fear is a prelude of how they plan to weaken him in the next three years,” he said.

United Nationalist Alliace secretary-general and campaign manager Toby Tiangco was quoted in news reports as saying that with Lanto in the Comelec, the stage has been set for a modified version of the 2004 elections where then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo allegedly cheated movie action king Fernando Poe Jr.

“For sure, his sense of imagination is running too wild,” Quimbo said, referring to who claimed that Lanto is an ace up the sleeve of Team PNoy campaign manager Franklin Drilon.

“How can one person possibly cheat in a commission composed of a chairman and six commissioners?” Quimbo asked.

“One thing is sure. The Liberal party-led administration coalition will not tolerate nor be a party to any electoral fraud,” Quimbo said. “Our party’s long history as a party will bear this out. “

“All this opposition talk about the stage being set for a 12-0 sweep is plain rhetoric that doesn’t make any sense. Even Lanto himself has said that he was more of a victim than a beneficiary in the alleged poll fraud that happened 20 years ago,” he added.

“It’s time that the opposition candidates talk more of their programs and alternative platform of government than letting their imagination run wild. Let’s go back to more relevant issues,” Quimbo said. 

Legarda To Establish LIFE

MANILA, March 9, 2013-During her visit to the Province of Leyte, reelectionist Senator Loren Legarda (Nationalist People’s Coalition) announced her plan to establish LIFE or the Legarda Institute For Environment.

Legarda, the United Nations Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, made the announcement after her visit to the Eastern Visayas State University in Tacloban City where she conducted one of her disaster risk reduction (DRR) roadshows.

“In the ongoing effort to integrate climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and environmental protection in our way of life, I have partnered with the Eastern Visayas State University to establish the very first Legarda Institute For Environment in the country,” she said.

LIFE is a research and training center for complex and innovative studies on climate change adaptation, disaster mitigation and environmental protection.

“This institute will provide the facility and means to acquire quality education in Environmental Science through research and development and experts on the field,” she explained.

Legarda said that the LIFE in EVSU will serve as template for the same institutes that she intends to establish in all regions in the country on her next term.

“If more Filipinos will have deeper understanding of the environment and climate change, we will have more partners not only in helping develop better climate adaptation and disaster mitigation policies and programs, but also in our education, information and communication campaign on these issues. I am hopeful that as a nation and as individuals, we will all be greatly aware of what we must do to make our communities disaster-resilient, and safe from the ill effects of the changing climate,” Legarda concluded.