Ruling party has lost 40% of its members
BY EFREN L. DANAO SENIOR REPORTER

The administration party Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) has lost 30 percent to 40 percent
of its members, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday on the eve of the party’s national convention. According to Zubiri, the party vice president, most of his former partymates have gone to either the Nacionalista Party or the Liberals.

“This is very sad, but I have expected this. This has always been the case when a party candidate for president is not that popular,” he said.

The ruling party’s standard-bearer, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, has had single digit ratings in national surveys, the latest of which had the Liberal Party’s Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd on top, followed by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalistas.

Zubiri said that he was confident that Teodoro’s rating would still go up even as he acknowledged that the desertion by several party leaders would weaken the party.

He, however, refused to blame the defectors, especially the local officials.

Matter of survival

“For them, this is a matter of survival. And some Lakas people could not get along with [those from] Kampi, and vice versa, after the merger of the two parties,” Zubiri explained.

He said that he believes that the exodus will end after December 1, the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy, adding that the switching of parties is practiced even after the elections.

Zubiri recalled that before the 1998 presidential elections, some 120 congressmen signed a covenant in Malacañang before then-President Fidel Ramos to remain with Lakas.

“After three months, there were only 29 of us left with Lakas,” he said.

The party renegades joined the party of Joseph Estrada, who succeeded Ramos. Estrada defeated Lakas standard-bearer and former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in the 1998 polls.

Zubiri said that it could be very convenient to change parties, but he would stick it out with Lakas-Kampi CMD, “win or lose.”

Senatorial lineup

So would seven other party stalwarts, apparently, who were announced also on Wednesday as senatorial candidates of Lakas-Kampi CMD in next year’s elections. The number was five short of a full ticket.

“Lakas-Kampi now has possible candidates for the senatorial race. As of now, we are not thinking of filling up the entire 12 [slots] because we want to have a compact team to be able to . . . shall we say, to have better chances of winning next year,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a press conference.

The party bets include action stars-turned-senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid, broadcaster and newspaper columnist Reynante “Rey” Langit, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd and Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd. Revilla and Lapid are seeking reelection.

Also included in the line-up are Jesus “Jess” Arranza, the president of the Federation of Philippine Industries, and Mayor Ramon Guico Jr. of Binalonan (Pangasinan), President Gloria Arroyo’s first cousin.

Ermita said that unless Duque made some last-minute turnaround, he would be included in the senatorial slate. It was reported that the Health chief also considers vying for a congressional seat in Pangasinan.

“As I said, it is better for us to have compact team to ensure victory next year,” he added.

Ermita said that around 15 to 17 members of the Arroyo Cabinet were running next year, and the Palace expected their resignations prior to the filing of their certificates of candidacy in early December.

He added that he himself is also planning to run for Congress next year, but it would depend on the plans of his daughter who represents a district of Batangas province in the House of Representatives.

Positive campaign

Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda, Nacionalista-Nationalist People’s Coalition vice presidential candidate, vowed also on Wednesday that she and Villar, Nacionalista presidential candidate, would wage a positive campaign in the 2010 elections “to enlighten the people on the issues based on their common platform of good governance.”

Legarda said that she and Villar would not resort to personal attacks in their campaign, but would stick to issues and the planks in their platform to educate the people on the issues of the elections.

The latest surveys showed that the Villar-Legarda tandem was a far second to the Liberal tandem of Aquino and Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd.

Legarda said she was confident that once she and Villar brought the issues to the people in the course of the campaign that they would be able to catch up with their rivals and eventually overtake them.

C-5 investigation

She had endorsed the investigation of Villar for alleged conflict of interest in pursuing the C-5 road extension project, saying that doing so was part of the democratic process. Legarda later signed a resolution, along with 11 other senators, seeking to clear Villar of any wrongdoing.

Villar said that he initiated the move to draft Loren as his running mate after finding out that they have a common platform.

Legarda pointed out that both of them are for the eradication of poverty, for a clean and green environment, against corruption, for women’s rights and for settling the leftist and Muslim insurgencies through sincere negotiations.

A fellow endorser of the inquiry into the controversial road project would not jump over to the NP side, contrary to reports.

Jinggoy not bolting PMP

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada also on Wednesday denied the reports saying that he would leave his father’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) party to run under Villar’s Nacionalista Party.

The senator is a son of former President Joseph Estrada, who himself is running again for the presidency in next year’s balloting.

Jinggoy also told The Manila Times that he would only run under the PMP “and no other” party.

Margaux Salcedo, the spokesman for the former president, said that Jinggoy may have been invited as a guest candidate by the Nacionalistas.

“But Sen. Estrada never applied for it,” she added.

The senator continues to lead surveys for senatorial aspirants in next year’s polls.

Apparently emphasizing that he would not have anything to do with the Nacionalistas, Jinggoy said also on Wednesday that he would withdraw his signature from a resolution filed Monday evening seeking to clear Villar of charges of misconduct in pursuing the C-5 road extension project.

He added that his withdrawal was in protest against an earlier agreement that the resolution would be filed simultaneously with that on the results of the inquiry into the C-5 case by the Senate Committee of the Whole.

Jinggoy said that the pullout of his signature should remove any suspicion that this was in return for his inclusion as guest candidate for senator in Villar’s ticket. He added that he was offered the slot without asking for it and that he thanked Villar for this.

He, however, stressed, that even if he would withdraw his signature, he remained convinced that Villar was innocent of the charges leveled against him.

Jinggoy was supposed to manifest on the floor his exit from the resolution but was prevented from doing so by lack of quorum. The Senate adjourned immediately when only nine senators answered the roll call. Session will resume on December 1.

Politically motivated

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, another signatory, also questioned why the resolution was filed immediately when it should have waited for the committee report to be completed. He said that while there was no explicit agreement that it would be filed only when the committee report on the C-5 inquiry was finalized, he had expected it to be filed with the committee report.

Unlike Jinggoy, Honasan said that he would not withdraw his signature.

“I signed it in good faith. I will not withdraw my signature because I know that it [the case against Villar] is political,” he explained.

The resolution seeking to clear Villar was originally signed by 12 of 23 senators. The 23rd senator, Antonio
Trillanes 4th, is detained for allegedly leading a coup attempt against President Arroyo and could not attend sessions.

“We now have the upper hand. With 12 signatories, this is already equivalent to a majority report on the C-5 project,” said Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Sen. Joker Arroyo defended the immediate filing of the resolution.

“The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate, so it does not matter whether it is filed now or later.
The sense of the Senate will remain the same regardless of the time of its filing,” he said.

Sen. Arroyo added that it was the belief of the signatories that the case should be dropped at the first instance. He said that there is no certainty on when the Senate Committee of the Whole would come up with its report.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that a committee report would be finalized before Congress goes
on Christmas break.

The resolution was referred on Tuesday to the Senate Committee on Rules headed by Senate Majority
Leader Zubiri, who said that the measure would remain in the backburner until the committee report was done.

Sen. Arroyo said that they agreed to this arrangement as a “peace offering.”

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that the resolution was not derailed “but merely put in its proper place.” He defended Enrile’s decision to toss the document to the Committee on Rules.

“Derailed is not a proper word to describe what happened yesterday. Put in its proper place is more like it.
It’s unparliamentary, unethical, brazen display of disrespect to the Senate President and the Senate as an institution and abusive of our rules. It is just fair that it be tossed to the Committee on Rules,” Lacson said.

He also questioned Villar’s signing the resolution, saying it was tantamount to the respondent clearing himself.

Lacson wished Sen. Legarda good luck in her team-up with Villar in the 2010 elections, saying: “They deserve each other . . . They are a perfect match in terms of character and credibility.”
WITH REPORTS FROM ANGELO S. SAMONTE AND FRANCIS EARL A. CUETO