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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
Already the pairings for president and vice
president are starting to come together, as a team-up between
Senators Loren Legarda and Francis “Chiz” Escudero in 2010
appears to be firming up.
Both Legarda and Escudero have consistently
ranked high in surveys on preferred presidential candidates. But
Escudero hinted that should he run, it would be in tandem with
Legarda and that they would never be rivals for the same position.
“If I were to choose a presidential candidate,
it will be Loren. For whatever reason, Loren and I will always be
together. In running, we won’t be apart,” he told The Manila
Times.
Legarda had never acknowledged her interest in
running for president, but she has already rejected any suggestion
that she would run for vice president again.
“I already ran for vice president in 2004 and
won,” said Legarda, who has never conceded defeat to Vice
President Noli de Castro. She filed an election protest contesting
the results.
Legarda and Escudero belong to the Nationalist
People’s Coalition (NPC), although at the Senate, Legarda is with
the minority and Escudero, with the majority. Legarda was number one
in 2007, having won the most number of votes among all the
senatorial bets. Escudero was number two.
Escudero does not believe Joseph Estrada would
run even if the former president has been saying that he would if
the opposition fails to unite behind a single opposition candidate
for the Palace. Escudero predicted that there would be no one-on-one
contest between the opposition and the administration in the 2010
presidential election, “since no incumbent is running, and there
is the question on who is really an opposition.”
Other bets, pairings
Among the expected presidential candidates are
de Castro, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista
Party, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd of the Liberal Party, Sen.
Panfilo Lacson, and Legarda. Sen. Richard Gordon and Mayor Jejomar
Binay of Makati have also shown keen interest in running.
Political pundits see a likely pairing between
de Castro with either Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan or
Sen. Bong Revilla Jr.; Villar with either Senate President
Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada or Senate Majority Leader Francis
Pangilinan; Roxas with Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd; and
Lacson with Sen. Jamby Madrigal.
If the election were held today, Escudero would
be the runaway winner for vice president based on his popularity in
recent surveys, with Pangilinan a far second.
Escudero acknowledged that with so many likely
tickets, the NPC might find it difficult to field a complete
senatorial slate. However, he does not believe that this would
affect the chances of the party in the 2010 election.
“Did FVR [former President Fidel V. Ramos]
field a complete slate in 1992?” he asked. “Miriam, who may have
won in 1992, did not have a complete slate. Speaker Ramon V. Mitra
had a complete senatorial slate in 1992 and [so did] Speaker Jose de
Venecia in 1998, but they both lost.”
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