Ex-councilor was ‘asked’ to resign from party

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Atty. Bo Roco, vice president of Aksyon Demokratiko Party (ADP), said former councilor Ricardo Tan was asked to “resign” even before the latter disaffiliated himself from the party after claiming that he was disrespected and was not informed of the sorties of ADP presidential candidate Isko Moreno here.

Tan, who is the party’s chairman in Bacolod City and is running for councilor here, said in a press statement Thursday that he decided to disaffiliate himself from ADP “because of the apparent disrespect for his designation as party chairman for Bacolod.”

Moreno was here Thursday and was seen at the Manokan Country and visited Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia at the Bacolod Government Center and held a rally at the city public plaza.

Tan, who is running as an independent candidate, said he was not informed about Moreno’s activities.

But in a press conference Friday at the Business Inn Hotel here, Roco said the resignation was a “kneejerk reaction” on the part of Tan to the appointment of Mario Gerona as the party’s point person in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.

He also said that the meeting between Moreno and Leonardia is a matter of protocol.

“Truth to tell, even the first time Yorme (Moreno) came to Negros, we’ve been trying to get in touch with him (Tan), however, parang walang nangyari, so we have to do something about, hindi naman pwede na tumigil ang kampanya.”

Roco also said that the remaining days of the campaign period “is very promising.”

“All we can do is campaign properly, and still do our rounds and not sleep until we finish the race and we will do it honorably,” he added.