GOVERNOR Aris Aumentado said he is unperturbed over allegation that his administration is negligent in handling the insurgency here following the alleged encounter between the government forces and the red rebels in Antequera town lately.
He told media interview that he wanted not to touch the said issue when it came out in the Bohol Tribune’s banner story in its issue last week. But he cannot just ignore the sentiment of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) he presided over in its meeting last week.
He said that the publication was somehow “anomalous” because why would Nabas, a known rebel leader, surrendered to the provincial government. And besides, armed clashes between the government forces and the rebels had already occurred during the past two provincial administrations. The allegation of negligence on the part of the provincial government has no basis, the governor said.
PPOC has come out a statement that turned the table against the said publication. Critics seem so determined to score Gov Aumentado’s administration for its handling of the rebel movement that they’ll go to any lengths to find something wrong with said administration. This was one of the beefs of the said statement.
The news article published in the Bohol Tribune “insinuated that Abante Bohol Service Caravan (ABSC) is done for political agenda. If this is so, why would the Aumentado’s administration brought the government to Behind the Clouds, a remote barangay of Batuan town, where the governor lost by a big margin in the last elections, the statement said.
The said program is a combined effort of the military, police and the government that the “people are already starting to once again report their (rebels) presence something that people also did during then Gov. Erico Aumentado administration that led to the declaration of Bohol as an insurgent-free in 2010, not in 2007 as published report stated.”
The statement postured this query: What was the purpose of writing the news report without naming the sources and factual validation of the information? It said that the allegation appeared to be pointing to the newspaper as “part of the group or sector that would like to sabotage the efforts of the government thru smear or black propaganda campaign.”
It said that the ABSC is “one program that walk the talk when Aris administration brought the government to the people, not just closer to the people “as what his predecessor used to say of their services.”
The statement said that Aris administration is not against the right of free expression guaranteed by the Constitution. But the said publication “should have fair and objective” especially that in (this) case the paper belongs to mainstream media who should report based on facts and from sources who ae not afraid to be named as sources. (rvo)
