Pasasalamat was how Sen. Bam Aquino described his two-day visit to Negros Oriental and Siquijor following his recent electoral victory.
In a press conference at a local restaurant last Friday, Aquino said Negros Oriental and Siquijor are two of the provinces where he came out as number one.
Noting that there is no senator representing Negros Oriental, Aquino volunteered to take up the causes of Negros Oriental in the legislature, especially concerning trade and commerce.
With the impending abolition of the graft-ridden Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), Aquino said that the everyone should now change their paradigms on how senators could help their voters.
“We can help make laws that will benefit the local government units,” he said.
Aquino, however, did not have a ready answer as to whether he would champion the restoration of the law granting royalty to Negros Oriental and other geothermal or hydroelectric power producing provinces.
The said law was revoked by Congress with the passage of the Energy Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) law shortly before the operations of the Philippine National Oil Company and the National Power Corporation were privatized.
This has resulted in a big loss of revenue for Negros Oriental, particularly the town of Valencia, where the geothermal wells are located. In 2011, Negros Oriental was expecting to get P36 million out of royalties from geothermal operations while the town of Valencia was expecting to get almost P100 million.
Senator Aquino also did not have a ready answer to the Notice of Disallowance given by the Commission on Audit to the Province of Negros Oriental covering the P480 million calamity fund for the repair and rehabilitation of structures damaged by tropical storm Sendong.
This was expected to be among the topics taken up during the scheduled courtesy call of Senator Aquino on Governor Roel Degamo Friday afternoon. Although not a member of the Liberal Party, Degamo had expressed support for Sen. Aquino’s candidacy during the last elections.
“This is my first time to hear of this,” Aquino said., but added that “if there’s help that should be given to the province, it should be given.” He said he would discuss the matter with the agencies concerned.
Aquino also said that there are strong indications that the abolition of the PDAF will get the nod of the Senate. “There are 15 senators who called for the abolition of the PDAF. On the senate site, I’m sure it’s going to be abolished. We have a majority already,” he said.
On the part of the House of Representatives, Sen. Aquino said that while he doesn’t want to speak for the congressmen, there’s a big chance that it, too, will move for the abolition of the PDAF because it is the stand adopted by the Liberal Party, which is the majority party in the House.
