Haresco’s feelings hurt over SP’s declaration of Persona Non Grata to Colleagues in Congress

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(Photo: Cong. Ted Haresco symbolically fighting for the welfare of Akeanons)

Dumatad Tangalan , Aklan- The feelings of Aklan’s Second District Congressman, Teodorico Haresco Jr., have been hurt upon learning that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan has filed a persona non grata tag against some of his colleagues in Congress. 

In a press conference here, he laments that the SP whom many of them supported in the recently concluded presidential and local elections, has taken an action that concerns his office and failed to seek any consent.

It could be recalled that the SP, in their session last Monday, filed a resolution declaring persona non grata for four of the congressmen from the Bicol region. The Bicol region has decided to pass legislation pushing for the passage of the Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA) 2 bill.

The BIDA bill 2 passage has angered many Akeanons, which prompted the SP to declare the four Congressmen Persona Non Grata.

The four congressmen were Cong. Luis Raymond Villafuerte Jr., Camarines Second District; Cong. Miguel Luis Villafuerte, Camarines Sur 5th District, Cong. Tsuyohoshi Anthony Horibata, Camarines First District; and Cong. Nicolas Enciso VIII, Bicol SARO Partylist.

“As soon as I learned that the Bicol congressmen had filed the BIDA 2 in the Congress, I immediately made representations together with the First District Congressman Carlito Marquez. Those gentlemen from Bicol have already agreed to our pleadings. They expressed their withdrawal early on, but due to the processes in Congress, the signed documents were made available to my office on August 8. I am only a phone call away to ask my consent prior to the declaration of persona non grata, but nobody dared to inform me of their actions. I only learned about the SP actions from the media, “he said.

The congressman stated that the action made him feel as if he was not contributing to the Akeanons’ well-being.

“Ever since the passage of the BIDA Bill 1, I have been fighting against it in Congress together with former Governor Florencio Miraflores. Why did the SP never declare a persona non grata tag for those congressmen who originally filed the said bill in the previous congress?” he added.

The passage of BIDA Bill 2 in the Congress manifests that several lawmakers see Boracay as a national treasure and want it to be managed by the national government, overturning the authority of the local government of Aklan and Malay.

The declaration of persona non grata is meant to supposedly ban the four congressmen from visiting Boracay or the province of Aklan in the future.

For his part, Vice Governor Reynaldo Quimpo told several radio stations in Aklan that the SP was ready to withdraw the persona non grata declaration once they received official transmittal from the Congress.

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