Post by E-Q on Apr 17, 2008 11:39:30 GMT 8
By Jess Diaz and Michael Punongbayan
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Opposition Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque proposed yesterday that Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officials be subjected to a lifestyle check.
He made the proposal after receiving information that a certain Esquivel, who he said is a deputy of MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, has a newly built three-story house in Villa Olympia Phase I subdivision in San Pedro, Laguna.
“He did not have that house before,” he said. MMDA traffic enforcement chief Bobby Esquivel also heads the agency’s sidewalk clearing operations group.
Golez said Esquivel also owns a resort named after him in the same subdivision, and that the resort is painted pink and blue.
“I am worried that MMDA’s pink paints might have been diverted,” he said.
The opposition congressman has become an arch critic of Fernando, but he does not want the MMDA chief to be subjected to a lifestyle check.Golez said he knows that Fernando is a wealthy man.
He also revealed that he has information that MMDA personnel have not been paid their P4,000 clothing allowance for two years now.
Golez has also questioned Fernando’s U-turn projects along the 16-lane Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
He said the U-turns occupy almost half of each side of the wide highway, reducing the stretches where they are located to only four lanes and making these areas traffic bottlenecks.
Yesterday, Golez found allies in Reps. Matias Defensor of Quezon City and Magtanggol Gunigundo ll of Valenzuela City.
Defensor said he could not understand why Fernando spent millions of taxpayers’ money in improving and widening the highway to eight lanes on each side, only to narrow it down to four lanes.
“I did not notice any problem at all before these U-turn slots were built. Now we have traffic congestion in areas where there was none,” he said.
Gunigundo said Fernando is messing up traffic along Commonwealth Avenue and other areas.
“I have no love lost for him. I reiterate my proposal that MMDA should be abolished,” he said.
Fernando to face critics
The MMDA chief will return to the country on Friday to finally face issues being hurled against him since he left for the United States more than a week ago.
He is expected to finally answer all questions and controversies raised by Golez, who started criticizing him and his projects after he left the country to attend a World Bank activity.
Other MMDA officials like general manager Robert Nacianceno and Esquivel has been defending him and the agency.
According to them, Fernando and the agency’s pink lanes, pink fences, U-turn slots, and tarpaulins all form part of very effective programs and projects that address the basic problems of the metropolis.
Earlier this year, Fernando announced his intention to join the 2010 presidential race as the official candidate of the Lakas party.
He has admitted going around the country to test the waters and feel the people’s pulse since he is looking at joining a nationwide campaign less than two years from now.
However, STAR sources said Golez himself is trying to use Fernando to gain popularity since he is planning on running for senator in 2010.
www.philstar.com/index.php?Metro&p=49&type=2&sec=26
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