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By Efren L. Danao Senior, Reporter
Already divided into two factions, the Liberal
Party (LP) became even more fragmented after Senate Majority Leader
Francis Pangilinan, the former party chairman, begged off from any
party position in the faction headed by Sen. Mar Roxas 2nd.
Pangilinan said Roxas had asked him what
position he wanted, but replied he would prefer not to get any
“out of delicadeza” (good taste).
“I don’t think it would be proper for me to
get a party position after we had differing positions on many
issues,” he said.
Pangilinan said the main difference came in the
2007 senatorial election when the party decided to join the
opposition slate, while he decided to run as an independent.
Their differences also came to the fore when
Pangilinan joined the majority group of Senate President Manuel
Villar Jr., while fellow Liberals Sen. Benigno Aquino 3rd, Isabela
Rep. Rodolfo Albano and Roxas joined the minority led by Sen.
Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
Pangilinan said he will remain with the party,
though, “as maverick member” and as “the voice of
conscience.”
But, he stressed that he would not hesitate to
leave the party if he believes that it is heading toward traditional
politics.
“I want the LP to do it all alone in 2010, but
if it coalesces with groups and individuals whom I consider to be
traditional politicians, then I will leave it,” he said.
Pangilinan has been a Liberal since 1988, when
he ran for the Quezon City council. He is also identified with the
Wednesday Group that includes Villar, president of the Nacionalista
Party.
New officers
Meanwhile, Liberal Party has chosen a new set of
national officers.
Former Senate President Franklin Drilon was
elected as chairman.
Other Liberal leaders elected were Cavite Rep.
Joseph Abaya, secretary-general; Sen. Aquino, executive
vice-president; former Education department Assistant Secretary Bong
Montesa, director general; and Quezon Gov. Rafael Nantes, treasurer.
Sen. Aquino replaced Roxas as executive
vice-president, and Abaya took the place of former Bukidnon Rep. J.R.
Nereus Acosta who will now concentrate on his post as executive
director of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats.
The Liberal Party will celebrate its 62nd
anniversary today with a series of community-based activities in
Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City.
On Tuesday, Liberal Party lawyers also asked the
Commission on Elections to junk the complaint filed by Environment
Secretary Lito Atienza and other Liberals questioning Roxas’s
presidency of their party.
Atienza was joined in his suit by other members
of the so-called Atienza wing who booted out Drilon in a questioned
conference.
Liberal Party lawyer Wifred Asis said the
petitioners in the case no longer have the legal personality to
question Roxas’ election since they were no longer Liberal
members, having been “considered resigned” from the party or
having run under either Lakas-CMD or KAMPI—both pro-administration
parties—during the May 2007 elections.
In his complaint, Atienza named as respondents
Roxas, Drilon, and former congressman Acosta.
Asis said Atienza, former Presidential Chief of
Staff Michael Defensor, Antique Gov. Sally Saldivar, former Northern
Samar Rep. Harlin Abayon and former Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez
were dropped from the Liberal membership roster “for holding and
convening a rump and illegal election of LP officers on March 2,
2006 at the Manila Hotel in the guise of a “Conference on
Decentralization and Local Autonomy” convened by the Department of
Interior and Local Government.”
The decision to boot out Atienza, Defensor,
Saldivar, Abayon and Sanchez, Asis explained, was contained in a
resolution passed by the Liberal Party National Political Council
during a meeting held on March 14, 2006, and later ratified during a
meeting of the Liberal Party National Executive Council on April 5,
2006.
Asis said Atienza has not been a long-standing
Liberal Party member since he ran under the banner of the People’s
Reform Party (PRP) during the 1992 and 1995 elections.
This, he said, is “a clear violation of the LP
Constitution which expressly removes LP members by their mere
membership in another political party.”
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