Joe de V. out of touch of situation in Pangasinan – Baraan

BY GATE JR.

 Former Speaker Joe de Venecia must have been absent from Pangasinan for a long time, that he does not know what is happening in his own province.
This was the immediate reaction of Pangasinan Provincial Administrator Rafael Howard F. Baraan to statements made by the retired Speaker, who claimed that the re-electionist governor had done nothing while in office. Baraan was reacting to a press release made by the Liberal Party-Braganza wing, quoting de Venecia as telling local leaders in the 4th district of Pangasinan to junk re-electionist Espino in favor of Alaminos Mayor Braganza.
De Venecia, according to the LP press release, called an emergency meeting in central Pangasinan early this week to try to convince local leaders to abandon Gov. Espino.
 The meeting was called after a pre-election survey by a reputable research company showed an overwhelming and irreversible victory by Espino and his vice governor in the whole province, including de Venecia’s bailiwick.
 According to Quezon City-based Data Advisors, Inc., Espino is preferred by 78.5% of voters over rival Nani Braganza who got only 21.1% of the votes. “The track record of Gov. Espino speaks for itself. Numerous regional and national awards that the province reaped are testimonies to this,” Baraan pointed out. Among those awards, he said, were:
 · Region I Champion, DILG Gawad Pamana ng Lahi (considered as the mother of all local governance awards)
· Hall of Fame, Regional Best Performing Province in Local Governance for three consecutive champion, 2010 to 2012
 · Hall of Fame, Best Regional Development Agenda Project implementer, 2010-2012
 · Hall of Fame, Regional Best LGU Practices (Project level) for 2010-2012
· Hall of Fame, Regional Best Medium Term Development Goal (MDG) project implementer, 2010-2012
 · Hall of Fame, Most Statistically Advanced Province in Region I, 2008-2101
· Hall of Fame, Regional Best Coastal Resources Management Program implementer, 2008- 2010, and · Hall of Fame, Regional Best Performing Province in Local Governance, 2010-2011
Aside from being acknowledged as the Best Performing Province in Region I, Pangasinan is also awarded by the DILG as the 4th Best Performing Province in the whole country. So, I wonder where Speaker Joe de Venecia got his erroneous, if not politically malicious, pronouncements, Baraan said.