By The Star Staff
Rep. Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló insisted Wednesday that the roads in his district have been attended to in the current four-year period without regard for political colors.
With that statement, the New Progressive Party (NPP) legislator confronted Villalba Mayor Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, who had alleged in recent days that the central government was discriminating against Popular Democratic Party (PDP)-run municipalities on the issue of road repairs.
The NPP leader attributed the PDP mayor’s statements to the fact that he is seeking to raise his image going into a PDP primary in mid-March.
“So the district’s roads have been attended to without looking at the [political party] colors,” Rodríguez Aguiló said. “I can tell you that as a representative, when Alejandro García Padilla was governor, the asphalt reached as far as Vega Baja, they jumped to Manatí, they reached Barceloneta, they jumped to Arecibo, which was from Carlos Molina, the mayor, and continued to Hatillo.”
“There was total discrimination against the municipalities of the New Progressive Party,” he said. “But I am telling you, not five gallons of asphalt; that is, not even a voucher for asphalt for five years.”
Rodríguez Aguiló said the then-PDP central government administration ignored the pleas of NPP officials.
“This is a matter for the mayor of Villalba because he is in a political race to preside over the Popular Democratic Party, which has a primary on March 16, and he is looking to be the movie hero to get votes for that primary …” he said.