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President Gloria Arroyo’s political party, the Kabalikat ng
Malayang Pilipino, or Kampi, will play a secondary role to the
ruling coalition Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, or Lakas, once
their planned merger is completed by December this year.
The plan, a top official of Lakas disclosed on
Tuesday, is at the “final stages.”
It foresees Lakas as the “surviving party,”
said the official, who had requested that he not be named.
He added that both sides have begun resolving
issues that divided them in the 2007 elections.
If they succeed, the Lakas official said, Kampi
would not field candidates in areas where the ruling coalition has
its own bets. Lakas, in turn, will not contest areas where
contenders from President Arroyo’s political party will run, he
added.
At the national level, the official said, a
“great majority” of Lakas members will be open to the
“entry” of candidates for president and vice president who are
not members of the ruling coalition.
This arrangement, he added, will make for an
“unbeatable” slate in the 2010 voting.
With the merger still remaining a possibility,
the Lakas official said the coalition is scouting for its own
presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Apparently, he was ruling out Chairman Bayani
Fernando of the Metro Manila Development Authority, or MMDA, who had
publicly announced his intention to run for President in 2010.
But, the Lakas official said, Fernando is
“fast losing his popularity because of his various campaigns that
many people say smack of human-rights abuses.”
He confirmed, though, that the MMDA chairman is
still a potential candidate of the coalition for President.
This early, the official said, many Lakas
leaders have signified their “willingness to adopt” Vice
President Noli de Castro and Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. as
“probable” candidates either for president or vice president.
According to the Lakas official, de Castro has
been “very quiet about his political plans and nobody knows what
he really wants.”
The official said the Vice President’s “good
showing in surveys is a good sign [that Lakas would draft him as
standard-bearer in 2010].”
He added, though, that de Castro’s lack of a
political party might be a setback.
The official cited “reports that the Vice
President is only waiting for an invitation to join Lakas.”
On Villar, he said the senator’s presidency of
the Nacionalista Party is a “big asset for him to be Lakas’
standard-bearer but that is if [Villar’s party] decides to
coalesce with us.”
“Personally, a Villar-de Castro ticket will be
very ideal,” the official added.
-- Sammy Martin
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