Panel to subpoena Pampanga mayor who snubbed House hearings

THE House committee on public accounts on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Mexico, Pampanga Mayor Teddy Tumang who skipped the previous hearing on alleged procurement irregularities in his municipality dating back to 2007.

Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Johnny Pimentel, assistant minority leader of the Commission on Appointments (CA), moved to subpoena Tumang who was di-

PRETTY AS THEY COME.

Laguna Rep.

Ann Matibag and husband rected to appear in the next hearing.

Melvin Matibag strike a pretty pose on the red carpet with their sampaguitainspired attire designed by Lumbanbased designer Frederick Berches.

Committee chairman, ABANG LING-

KOD Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano of the ABANG LINGKOD party-list approved Pimentel’s motion to subpoena Tumang who sent a lawyer to attend the past hearing on his behalf.

“We need Mayor Tumang to be physically present. As I’ve said, he’s not around, he waived his right,” Paduano said. He subsequently told the lawyer to submit

Tumang’s explanation for his absence.

During his interpellation, Pimentel expressed frustration over the mayor’s absence since no other invited resource person could have been able to answer his questions.

“Mr. Chair, my questions will be directed to Mayor Tumang because the subject matter of the this audit report which is about two inches thick is Mayor Tumang himself. Because he signed the P149 million supposedly anomalous transactions by himself,” Pimentel said.

“So we need Mayor Tumang himself to answer this.

We need the principal resource person because there have been several hundred vouchers signed by Mayor Tumang,” Pimentel, added. He warned Tumang’s legal counsel about the possible consequences on his client’s actions.

Solon cites San Pedro City’s growth potential attuned to PBBM’s visions

INSPIRED by the first-year achievements of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., San Pedro City in Laguna has been one of the progressive cities in the Philippines focusing on providing basic livelihood projects like the sampaguita industry since last year to uplift the lives of its people, Laguna Rep. Ann Matibag said.

In a statement, Matibag said San Pedro has achieved considerable success in using indigenous products for its livelihood projects. These include sampaguita growing as its main industry, mushroom growers, nutribun making, soap making, and duck growing, salted egg and balut industry, among others.

Matibag started these projects last year to give her people “more jobs and business opportunities aside from their medical missions, infrastructure projects, financial and medical assistance, and scholarship programs.”

“I observed that President Marcos is oriented towards agriculture development, not to mention the provision of housing, health, and educational programs, among others,” Matibag said. “Programs focused on raising the quality of life of the people are what I continuously push for the people of San Pedro.” ance to maintain close coordination with other government agencies to curb agricultural smuggling, considered a form of economic sabotage.

Matibag promoted San Pedro’s indigenous sampaguita industry during Monday’s State of the Nation Address by the President.

San Pedro has been engaged in sampaguita propagation since the 1980s, the essence of which is used to make soaps, perfumes, cosmetics, and deodorants, among others, like herbal medicines.

Commenting on President Marcos’ SONA about agricultural production and development, Matibag said the direction of the Marcos administration in the sector would definitely give life to San Pedro again as the country’s sampaguita capital.

“We will enhance both pre-arrival and post-arrival technical targeting and fraud detection mechanisms for imported goods. Investing in additional equipment and providing capacity building for our personnel that will further strengthen our intelligence and enforcement capabilities,” the BOC statement read.

Included in the bureau’s proactive measures is its commitment to support prosecution to run after the smugglers.

“Through DOJ, we will strive to increase the conviction rate against smugglers, serving as a deterrent to others involved in such illicit activities,” it added.