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For a while, we thought that it would be a battle
between Senate President Manny Villar and Sen. Mar Roxas in the
presidential elections of 2010. But it seems that Manny now sees it
another way after meeting his leaders. He would be fighting Vice
President Noli de Castro.
On Tuesday, I meet Mr. Villar for
lunch and he shared with me his thoughts on aspects of the political
situation. I shall try to carry his ideas in this column in
succeeding days. But my immediate impression from the 2-hour meeting
was that Mr. Villar has started to consult the voters.
He made that decision to feel the
pulse of the electorate a few weeks ago, after coming from a meeting
of the inter-parliamentary union. He started to make the rounds,
after discussing the matter with his representative wife, Cynthia,
and consulting with regional leaders.
He was surprised when he was told
that the Vice President Noli de Castro would be his strongest
opponent. Manny said: “It is the Vice President who has a strong
presence in the regions because of his media campaign focusing on
the housing problem. We do not seem to notice it, but his work in
the sector is being projected. Hindi halata [It’s not obvious.]”
On the other hand, Villar said,
the Roxas campaign seems to have slackened. “I had been told by my
leaders before that I should prepare to fight Senator Roxas. But the
reports from my leaders lately are different. They say it’s the
Vice President [I have to fight].”
But Villar concedes that Roxas is
popular among the voters and his pull could not be underestimated.
After all, Roxas topped the senatorial contest.
We asked Manny if the 2010 fight
would be between the administration and the opposition. To which he
replied that the election could take that shape. But he expects the
ruling party or the GMA group to encourage more opposition bets to
run to make sure that the chances of the administration bet
increases.
What would be the role of the
revived Nacionalista Party (NP) in his plan for the presidency?
Would the NP be the vanguard group? He envisions the NP to be the
lead group in his national campaign. But he would coalesce with many
other parties to broaden the coalition. In the run-up to the polls,
Manny expects to get leaders from all the parties, including those
now identified with the administration.
Illustrating his coalition
strategy, he mentioned that he has to maximize the impact of his
leaders now scattered over the regions. In areas where his NP man is
number three in strength, he can maximize that by coalescing with
other parties sympathetic to his candidacy and program of
government.
Atienza on foreign
investments, Boracay
It seems that the problem of DENR
Secretary Lito Atienza with Nueva Vizcaya governor Luisa Lloren
Cuaresma involves state policy concerning foreign investment. The
problem started when Cuaresma ordered the collection of quarry fees
from Australian firm Oceana Gold out of the gravel and sand it moves
in the mining site.
But Atienza thinks the order of
Cuaresma was illegal, saying that an earlier accord with the
national government allows the extraction of gravel and sand
by the firm without the need for a provincial permit. Atienza is so
confident about his stand that he challenged Cuaresma to get a court
order or seek an opinion from the DOJ.
Atienza expressed hopes that
problems like these are settled soon because it “sends a wrong
signal to foreign investors.” By the way, there is complaint from
foreign investors that the country does not speak in one voice as
far as policy is concerned.
Over in Boracay, Secretary
Atienza is having problems with the stubborn Mayor Ciceron Cawaling
who continues to allow the unabated construction of structures.
Atienza has decided to sue the mayor who seems to have also
disregarded the decision of his own town council.
President GMA has already created
a Boracay Task Force (headed by former police officer Virtus Gil)
but it seems that construction goes on without regard for the
environment. There is supposed to be the DENR Boracay plan, but this
document remains largely ignored.
Over at Zambales, the problem of
the DENR is different—it’s mining the land beyond its
capacity, or overextraction. Mr. Atienza thinks that Mayor Luisito
Marty of Sta. Cruz, Zambales, is allowing the use of the small
mining permit to do large-scale mining.
He also asked Gov. Amor Deloso of
Zambales to solve the state of anarchy that is developing in
Zambales. Early on, there was a report about large-scale smuggling
of nickel deposits in the port of Sta. Cruz. The DENR and the
authorities stopped the smuggling.
BRIEF NOTES, The social democrats
within the GMA cabinet are the ones blocking the continuation of the
peace talks with the National Democratic Front. For instance, Mr.
Norberto Gonzales of the National Security Council says the NDF
should first sign a cease-fire accord with government before GRP
makes a move to seek the removal of the NDF from the terror list.
jules42na@yahoo.com
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