Neptalie Batolenio & Michael Medina
Online editors
OZAMIZ CITY: IS Gov. Loreto Ocampos ready to become the national president of the League of Provinces in the Philippines (LPP)?
This question continues to linger among local media personalities here after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hinted in her speech during the reopening of the Ozamiz airport that the governor will be the next head of the LPP.
The LPP will be seeing its new set of leaders after Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado recently relinquished his presidency “to give way to (new leaders) that can aggressively pursue with more dynamism and vigor the LPP advocacies.”
In a press statement obtained by Misamis Probe, Aumentado said he hopes that the next set of leaders of the LPP would be able to carry on “with dynamism and vigor” the advocacies pursued under his watch.
These advocacies include the recognition of the vital role played by the local governments, led by the provinces, in stabilizing the Arroyo administration and in the task of nation building.
He pointed out that because of the pursuit of this advocacy; President Arroyo has shifted the corridors of power from the national government to the LGUs.
At the same time, Aumentado cited the increasing share of the LGUs in the national internal revenue allotments, which now includes the value added tax, as one of the gains of the league in its advocacies.
He added that the league’s next target should be the inclusion of the collections of the Bureau of Customs in the computation of the LGUs’ share in the IRA.
Aside from the national president, the governors will also be electing from among themselves the next set of key officers which include the chairman of the National Executive Board, the Executive Vice President and the Secretary-General, among others.
Ocampos, in response to the question, said that he believes he will most likely clinch the LPP presidency when their group conducts their election this August “with the support of the president and all the other governors.”
The governor explained that even though nobody among his colleagues expressed his or her intention to run for the presidency, he would still do some rounds of “campaigning.”
“Dili nato masiguro kay politika kini ug dili pa masayran unsa unya ang mga kausaban,” he said.
Ocampos also in rebutted rumors which said that if ever he becomes the LPP president, he would not be able to concentrate on his job in running the affairs in the Capitol.
“Aduna ta’y mga lakang nga pagahimuon nga bisan molapad na ang atong panebrisyo mabubuan og daghan nga mga grasya ang atong probinsiya. Dili lang mabalaka ang katawhan niini,” he said.
After LPP, will he be eyeing the Senate? “Layo ra kayo na,” he quipped.
Meanwhile, as of press time, the LPP is conducting its one-day Peer-to-Peer Orientation for Newly-Elected Governors on August 2007.
In addition to selected experienced governors taking part as speakers, second and third-term governors were also be invited to enrich the discussions with their personal experiences.
The orientation, according to the LPP website, “is meant to provide a foundation upon which newly elected governors can build their skills to provide effective leadership in the province’s local governance framework. Part of a broader orientation program for all local elected officials, this particular orientation organized by the League will focus on leadership and management.”
“While other components of the over-all orientation program which will be undertaken by DILG will provide theoretical information on the provisions of the law as well as management tools on local governance such as LGPMS, the LPP orientation is meant to be experiential in nature,” it said.