“I will do the same thing if I were in his place.”

This was the reaction given by Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera on the controversy generated by the refusal of Bien Unido Mayor Niño Rey Boniel to allow the wife of Rep. Edgar Chatto to distribute cellular phones to barangay captains of his town.

“It was a virtual slap on the face of Mayor Boniel,” Herrera said, noting that the mayor was not given the courtesy of being informed about it in the first place.

Herrera said the mayor was actually set up by his opponent who is the federation president and that the intention was to embarrass him before the barangay captains.

The vice-governor said that if she had good manners, Pureza Veloso-Chatto, the first district congressman’s wife, should have at least informed the mayor about her intention because he will not hesitate to welcome her even for political visits.

“You do not go barging into a town just because you happen to be the wife of a congressman,” the vice-governor added.

Herrera said that there is no justification for the unannounced visit by a politician’s wife.

“Maybe we can consider it if she was an ignorant person who was not able to go to school and has no manners but this was a political gimmick,” he added.

Herrera said Veloso-Chatto herself admitted that she did not seek prior permission from the mayor so she should not pretend to be surprised at the mayor’s reaction.

The vice-governor also chided Chatto for not being man enough to distribute the cellular phones himself.

“Anybody who is man enough will stand up and resist the insult of unannounced guests in his home,” he added.

“This is his campaign. He should do it himself and not delegate the responsibility to his wife,” he added.

Herrera said the Chatto couple has a strange sense of propriety.

“It was alright for Cong. Chatto that my team was prevented from playing in Hanopol even though we were invited as guests,” he recalled.

Now, Herrera said Chatto’s wife is trying to portray herself as a victim after she was reprimanded for going to Bien Unido uninvited.

The Bien-Unido controversy was the latest to hit the Chatto camp.

It was still smarting from the negative publicity generated by the move of provincial agriculturist Liza Quirog to exploit the recently concluded ube festival to promote Chatto’s candidacy by distributing flyers and other subtle campaign propaganda during the activity.

Quirog’s father is the brother of the congressman’s mother, Balilihan Mayor Victoria Chatto.

Chatto had also come under fire for the efforts to revoke the certificate of nomination and acceptance of Gov. Erico Aumentado.

Herrera said he is not surprised by the Bien Unido incident.

“If (Chatto) could afford to stand beside Gov. Aumentado during a holy mass after stabbing him in the back, he can do anything without batting an eyelash,” he added.

The vice-governor also questioned the timing of the giving of mobile phones considering that Chatto did not do it in his own district until last year.