Banal’s rehashed accusations a bid to divert attention from Villafuerte

In his March 3 column, Conrado Banal III put my client, former deputy speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, as well as the Partido District of Camarines Sur, in a very unflattering light by rehashing the already discredited accusations being peddled to media by former Camarines Sur governor Luis “LRay” Villafuerte.

Villafuerte’s libelous statements against Representative Fuentebella seem intended to divert attention away from the former’s indictment by the Office of the Ombudsman for graft over the Camarines Sur provincial government’s highly anomalous ghost purchase of P20-million worth of fuel without public bidding. The Sandiganbayan, in fact, has already issued an arrest warrant for Villafuerte.

Allow us to point out that the  Partido Development Administration (PDA) is a district-level development planning and implementing agency created by a statute (Republic Act No. 7820, as amended) to accelerate the development of the fourth district of Camarines Sur.

PDA’s mission is to constantly improve services in health, energy, water, education, agriculture, livelihood and infrastructure, among other sectors. Its most significant achievement is the construction of a modern, district-wide potable water system, the Partido Water Supply System (PWSS), which was made possible through an interest-free loan from the Danish government. PWSS now serves more than 16,794 households, some of which are too remote or costly to serve given the topography of the area where they live. Before PWSS’ operation, only 3,315 households had access to potable water in Partido.

With PWSS, water-borne diseases have been eliminated.

Revenues generated by PWSS are used to expand its services to accommodate more households and to fund various development programs and projects in the Partido area.

PDA thus has been instrumental in the establishment of several educational institutions: the Philippine Science High School, Bicol Campus; Partido State University with seven campuses spread out in the district; and numerous public elementary and secondary schools. It has also implemented parallel programs with components such as computer literacy training, scholarships, provision of computer sets and

others.

In the field of health, PDA has largely contributed to the establishment of several primary hospitals and several barangay health centers, providing adequate supply of basic medicines as well. Through PDA, free medical, dental and surgical services as well as eye operations have been extended, benefiting less privileged individuals in Partido.

PDA’s record—and it has more accomplishments—speaks for itself. On Dec. 11, 2013, the Governance Commission for GOCCs approved the Performance Scorecard of PDA for 2013-2014.

PDA religiously remits to the national treasury a portion of PWSS’ income for the payment of its loan, thus the allegation that PDA owes the national government big time is a blatant lie.

In fact, PDA is such a success that many lawmakers have tried to replicate it in their legislative districts.

—JOSE MIGUEL C. PALARCA,

counsel for Arnulfo Fuentebella