|
By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
Lakas-CMD, the country’s
biggest political party, flexed its organizational muscle yesterday
with about 3,000 party leaders led by President Arroyo, its honorary
chairman, vowing to regain the party’s dominance in the May 14
election.
In her keynote speech at the
party convention, the President said that the continued dominance of
Lakas and its allied parties was needed for national stability,
growth and progress. Lakas has 7 candidates for senator in the
12-man Team Unity slate.
President Arroyo said that while
the campaign still has a long way to go, victory of the 12-man Team
Unity senatorial slate is already within reach with the strong
support of local officials.
“The victory of Team Unity is
as crucial as your own victory for national stability, growth and
progress. Make each vote you gather for yourself a vote for Team
Unity,” she exhorted the cheering members of Lakas.
Speaker Jose de Venecia, the
party president, predicted that Lakas would win an overwhelming
majority of mayors, governors and congressmen, as he urged leaders
to press for a 12-0 victory of Team Unity. He cited a survey by the
Social Weather Stations showing Lakas as “the most respected party
in the country today” as indication of the party’s stature and
of its achievements in pursuing national unity and progress.
The party was founded in 1992
primarily as a vehicle for the presidential aspirations of
then-Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos and for the shift to a
parliamentary-federal form of government. It already has two elected
presidents in Mr. Ramos and Mrs. Arroyo, but its party platform of
amending the Constitution to shift to a new form of government is
still unrealized.
De Venecia and Ramos were the
only Lakas founders on stage. Former Executive Secretary Edelmiro
Amante and former Ifugao representative Gualberto Lumauig were not
visible. Former House Majority Leader Francisco Sumulong and
former Health secretary Hilarion Ramiro Jr. had already died.
Reelectionist Sen. Edgardo Angara,
national president of Laban, said he readily agreed to join forces
with Lakas in Team Unity to make sure that the economic progress of
the country would be sustained. He warned that bickering among
national leaders would continue unless Team Unity wins on May 14.
Sen. Joker Arroyo and former Sen.
Tessie Aquino-Oreta agreed that political instability would ensue
if the Genuine Opposition would win the election.
“The opposition wants to
control the Senate because it wants to paralyze the government. Its
leaders had already tried to impeach the President twice and failed.
Had they succeeded, we would no longer be here because they want a
military junta to take over,” Arroyo contended.
Oreta said she joined Team Unity
because she wants the “politics of unity, not of hatred,” and
because she did not want to see the collapse of the government.
Rep. Prospero Pichay of Surigao
and Rep. Migz Zubiri of Bukidnon recounted that after the victory of
President Joseph Estrada in 1998, the 170-strong Lakas in the House
dwindled to only 29.
“But we did not lose courage.
We persevered and today, we are again the dominant majority party in
the Philippines,” Pichay said.
The President was smiling and
clapping as the speakers linked the country’s progress to her
governance and they recounted how they won against forces trying to
unseat her.
The other senatorial candidates
who attended the Lakas convention at the Folk Arts theater were Sen.
Ralph Recto, Sultan Jamalul Kiram 3rd, Gov. Vic Magsaysay of
Zambales, Gov. Chavit Singson of Ilocos Sur, former Sen. Vicente
Sotto 3rd, Secretary Mike Defensor, actor Cesar Montano.
Also in attendance was Rep.
Clavel Martinez of Cebu who had voted with the opposition in the
impeachment proceedings. She is running for Cebu vice-governor under
Lakas. Her son, Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez 3rd will seek to
replace her, while the Martinez patriarch, former Rep. Celestino
Martinez Jr., will run for Bogo mayor.
--With William Depasupil
and Sam Mediavilla
|
