Emmanuel Iway who claims to be a stalwart of the Liberal Party and bragged that he will be the LP bet for congressman of the first congressional district of Negros Orietal come 2013 election, was fired as Deputy Commissioner of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) by no other than the president of the LP, Secretary Manuel Roxas.
Although Iway in his public statement  made it appear that he resigned from his post, insiders at the Department of Transportation and Communications intimated that Iway was in fact ousted due to his alleged anomalous awarding of the defunct Pantranco Line transport franchise in favor of Victory Liner. The Pantranco Line franchise was said to have expired already and yet Iway together with his cohorts at the LTFRB had resurrected it  without bidding as required under RA 9184 and failure to observe existing rules and procedure  in awarding transport franchise. The defunct franchise was given to another transportation company when in fact there were others who were also qualified to share a portion of the franchise. This incident was something that the no nonsense Secretary of Transportation cannot tolerate, hence, Iway was immediately given his dismissal paper.
Further, by announcing in public on several occasions that he is the chosen by LP as its candidate for congressman, would not this be an insult to the LP to have a candidate who does not follow the straight path prescribed by the chairman of the LP, BS Aquino? A candidate who is accused of corruption and was booted out by the president of the LP, leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Well, it is not surprising, with the desperation of the Liberals nowadays to get candidates to run under the banner especially in the senatorial line-up, such that it had to coalesce with well-known lickers of  then President Macapagal Arroyo. One is not surprised if an ousted LTFRB employee like Iway is in the list of would be candidates, the UNA candidates will be laughing on their way to their victory ball.
This is not new to Iway. He was once an employee of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Region VII. According to a source at the LTO in Region VII, Iway was likewise fired due to alleged corruption activities. After his stint at the LTO, Iway alledgedly run for various elective positions such  as councilor, mayor and congressman of Mandaue City, and in all these attempts to become an elected official, Iway failed to gain the voters nod.
Well if the president of the LP, Mar Roxas fired him for alleged anomalous transaction at the LTFRB, this means that the LP could not really find a better candidate in Negros Oriental as they had to import a well known resident of Mandaue City of Cebu to run this coming election. Well there it is. Then let it be Iway as the LP model official and candidate.  But I have so much respect for the voters of Negros Oriental. I’m sure they will reject any discard from Mandaue City come election time.
As I mentioned in my previous column in this space, sooner or later, the shenanigans by top officials of Department of Social Welfare and Development who are running the affairs of the Pangtawid Program will be caught with their corrupt practices. No other than the chairman of the Commission on Audit (CoA), Grace Pulido Tan has caught the malpractices of Dinky Soliman’s boys and girls. CoA said that out of 1,400 people used as samples, 96 were found to have perjured, which means that they were not really the poorest of the poor as required by the program. They are “palusot” by the politicians identified with Dinky and her cohorts. I recall on several occasions in my daily program, texters from Cavite and Bulacan were asking me to raise questions why their neighbors who were a bit well off were included in the beneficiaries of the 4P’s. They also said some of their relatives complained that they were not receiving the exact amount due them. I thought for awhile that the texters were just making making up stories, but with the CoA findings, the 4P’s should be stopped temporarily pending the Senate as well as the CoA investigation.