By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE NMI Republican Party’s Precinct 4 chairman Luis Kapileo on Monday urged party president Thomas B. Pangelinan to disqualify Rep. Candido B. Taman and Joseph James N. Camacho from running as GOP candidates.
Kapileo accused the two of violating the party by-laws when they announced that they would run with or without GOP endorsement.
Pangelinan, in a telephone interview, said he has yet to receive the letter from Kapileo.
He said he does not know why the party should disqualify Taman and Camacho since there is still no deadline for the submission of candidacies.
Kapileo, in his letter to Pangelinan, said Taman’s “repeated public statements” that he will run for office with or without the party’s endorsement is grounds for disqualification.
“The leadership should take action to bar him from running under the GOP,” Kapileo said.
He said they have also been “advised that Camacho has been illegally circulating his petition indicating that if he is not selected, he still would run as an independent.”
The need to address this issue is critical, Kapileo said, adding that appropriate actions should immediately be taken.
Failure to do so on the part of the GOP central committee, he said, would be “a plain dereliction of duty and a flagrant betrayal of the trust of all bona fide Republicans.”
He added, “If the leadership should fail to take appropriate action pursuant to applicable provisions of the by-laws, we definitely must not be surprised if defections come about in the future.”
The GOP Precinct 4 club has clashed with the central committee over the selection of House candidates.
Last January, the club nominated Sylvetre Iguel and Barbara Yamada, but the precinct’s incumbent House member, Taman, said he will still seek re-election with or without the GOP’s endorsement.