Esperon eyeing Congress seat

PASINGAN, Pangasinan – From being an Armed Forces chief to presidential adviser on the peace process and now head of the Presidential Management Staff, will a Pangasinan congressional seat be the next target of Hermogenes Esperon Jr.?

Esperon, a native of this town, said there’s a possibility he will give it a try, confirming reports that he is eyeing the sixth district’s congressional seat in the 2010 elections.

“Malamang (Possibly),” said Esperon, who was in Sto. Tomas town to attend the Cabinet meeting presided over by President Arroyo last week.

During his military stint, Esperon, who studied at the North Central Elementary School here, was able to visit his hometown only during fiestas to renew friendships and recharge.

As PMS chief, he said he can now concentrate on various projects of the President like irrigation and farm-to-market roads, and as chairman of the Pro-Performance Team, monitor the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway that extends up to Pangasinan and La Union, as well as other big projects.

“So if I can do it in other areas why can’t I do it also in Pangasinan (particularly in) the sixth district?” he said in Tagalog, adding that he also wants to serve his own kabaleyan (provincemates).

He said he has started consultations with eight of the 10 mayors in the sixth district.

Esperon said he sought the advice of sixth district Rep. Conrado Estrella IIII, who is now on his third term.

He added he has discussed his plan with former President Fidel Ramos, who also hails from this town, and that he got an encouraging response.

Right now, Esperon busies himself as designated head, together with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, a fellow Pangasinense, of the President’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program in the fifth and sixth districts of Pangasinan. – Jennelyn Mondejar