BALANGA CITY, Bataan -- Crying foul over their opponents’ dirty tricks of propaganda, the Garcias – Gov. Enrique “Tet” Garcia, sons Rep. Abet and Mayor Joet of this city -- challenged their political foes to lay down what they have accomplished for the benefits of Bataeños and not resort to black propaganda.

The Garcias’ actions came in the wake of a “dirty” propaganda being spread by their political opponents in their bid perhaps to attract the voters’ attention this coming polls.

“Performance, hindi paninira ang kailangan ng bayan,” stated streamers put up by the supporters of the Garcias in an apparent challenge to their foes whom they accused of doing nothing expect to destroy the credibility and belittle the unequalled accomplishments of the Garcias.

Only recently, a number of pocket-sized calendars of the Garcias  -- including that of Gila who is running for congress in the 1^st District – with a picture at the background depicting the Ampatauans of Maguindanao was distributed throughout the province.

The Garcias accused the opposition of being behind the circulation of the said calendars. “On the surface, it may appear to be nothing but a cheap attempt to elicit fun and laughter at the expense of the Garcias... to ridicule them. After all, none of the Garcias has ever been linked, suspected nor charged with any form of violence," said in the letter by Lakas-Kampi candidates here addressed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The Lakas-Kampi candidates also asked the president to remove DND secretary Norberto Gonzales to have a truly peaceful election in Bataan. Gonzales, whose daughter Marie Gonzales is running for Congress in the 2^nd District, could not be reached for comment.

The Garcias have been sponsoring the scholarship of more than 6,000 poor but deserving students in Bataan for the past several years, a tangible accomplishment that has further boosted the popularity of the governor and his two sons.

Gov. Garcia was instrumental for the massive increase of income by the province since he assumed the governorship last 2004 by instituting reforms in what he called right and appropriate taxation of the multinational companies operating in Bataan, together with the Petrochem and Petron Bataan Refinery which are now paying hundreds of millions of pesos to the provincial coffers.

Under the leadership of Gov. Garcia, salaries, wages and bonuses of the more than 1,000 capitol employees are no longer delayed, unlike in the past administration.

Rep. Garcia, who principally authored the Freeport Area of Bataan, was also instrumental in the putting up of the Orion port which is now being developed into a RoRo-capable port in Bataan, aside from the various infrastructure projects, such as the widening of the Roman highway in the 1^st District.

Mayor Joet, on the other hand, was also behind the construction of various infrastructure projects in Balanga, the empowerment of barangays, the renovation of the city plaza, the rehabilitation of the new public market and now the construction of the former Arcade into a 5-storey commercial center.