Toledo U.D.P.’s Call Out Area Reps Outside House
Parliamentarians at the National Assembly must occasionally share the grand stage with their constituents – particularly those protesting against them. While 2005 certainly comes to mind, the handful of protestors in red shirts today on Independence Hill had concerns much closer to home – which for them is the Toledo District. While the protestors, including Government Senator Macario Coy, are U.D.P.’s, their current representatives – Mike Espat for Toledo East and Oscar Requeña for Toledo West – are members of the People’s United Party, and the shoe appears to be on the other foot where access to resources is concerned. They told reporters that they want to see more of the two men in the community and at centralized offices.
Macario Coy, U.D.P. Senator
“We are calling on them to open their office now! Because it has been numbers of years now that these guys have been lost. I mean I believe the people elected them to serve the community; and not just spend the money how they want to spend it out there.”
Macario Coy
Reporter
“But if you want to reach Mr. Mike or Mr. Requena, you have ways you can reach them.”
Macario Coy
“I can’t reach them, they are missing! We live in Toledo, we know exactly what we are talking about. We might could hear them but we don’t know where they are; we haven’t seen them for a number of years now.”
Protestor
“The only time you see Mike Espat is on election day; after election the man gone, the man vanish.”
Protestor
Reporter
“Well he must know weh ih di do, cause ih win a lot of elections.”
Protestor
“Ai, man, ai, man; dah wah different story – dah wah different story for another day; but what I am saying today is that this man di collect six thousand two hundred dollars a month; almost five years, three months – dat da almost four hundred thousand dollars a taxpayer money, community vote; and not a single penny spent in Toledo East and Toledo West.”
Reporter
“But perhaps he is spending it in the community?”
Protestor
“[You] personally go in Toledo West and Toledo East and do a survey; and they will personally tell you what I am saying today, that they can’t see Mike Espat and Oscar Requeña.”
We will seek a response from the area representatives on Friday.
