Puno Withdraws VP Bid

October 23, 2009

Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government yesterday announced that he was withdrawing his bid for the vice presidency, citing  his desire and commitment to serve the people through the DILG during these difficult times as  the reason for his surprise decision.

The urgent concerns of the Filipino people in this period of successive calamities, Puno said, cannot be set aside in favor of politics.

Puno made the announcement before members of the DILG family, which included his undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, top officials of the Bureaus of Jail Management and Penology and of Fire Protection,  regional directors and other Department officials in the local government sector, prior to the start of an afternoon conference  in Camp Crame, which he called to discuss ways of building the resiliency of local government units in times of disaster. 

“I would like to announce today that I am withdrawing my bid to be the vice president of the Republic of the Philippines in order to remain with the people that I have worked with for the decades past; in order to remain with the people in the public service who have shown me by their example what it means to be a public servant, who have made my life meaningful and who I know will continue to give my life meaning in the months ahead,” Puno said.

He said that following his announcement. “there will be no more talk about any candidacies of any sort,” as he will dedicate himself  in the remaining months of the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to serving our people in the way that I know best—as  a member of the DILG where I began many years ago and where I hope to see the height and zenith of my career.” 

Puno thanked all those who supported his plan to run for vice president under the administration party Lakas-Kampi CMD, including the Friends of Ronnie group, which gathered over one million signatures to back his political bid.

Puno was selected by  majority of the members of the  Lakas-Kampi National Executive Committee as the vice presidential bet of the party in a caucus held last month, while Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, was chosen as the preferred standard bearer. ,

The DILG chief said that his inspection trips to various calamity-stricken provinces in the past few weeks led him to reflect whether  it was more important to aspire for a political future, or to defer such plans and focus instead on finding solutions to   the problems now  facing the nation.

Puno said he was leaving it to the Lakas-Kampi-CMD leadership to decide on who should be the party’s final choice as vice presidential candidate.

He said he believes that there  are enough candidates from the current crop of possible choices for national positions which the public can choose from come Election Day to ably and competently serve the country.