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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
President Gloria Arroyo gave an
assurance on Thursday that the 2010 elections would push through.
She cited the merger of
administration political parties Lakas-CMD and Kampi as “tangible
proof” that there was no stopping the polls next year. Apparently,
President Arroyo was pointing to the readiness this early of the new
party to fight it out with opposition groups.
Speaking before the members of
the merger—Lakas-Kampi Christian-Muslim Democrats, or Lakas-Kampi
CMD—the President served warning that the union of the two
administration parties would dominate the May 2010 elections. Kampi,
or Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, was the party she founded when
she was still Vice President in 1998.
Mrs. Arroyo, during formal
announcement of the merger at the Manila Hotel, hit at those who
have raised the possibility of a no-election scenario amid Charter
change initiatives that purportedly were aimed at prolonging her
stay in office beyond 2010. Next year’s elections will pick her
successor.
“Cynics and detractors love to
paint grim scenarios on the cancellation of the 2010 elections,”
she said in a speech. “Let this merger of Lakas and Kampi be
tangible proof of the administration’s readiness nay determination
to help ensure that the elections do push through.”
Opposition’s views
Opposition leader and Mayor
Jejomar Binay of Makati City was an early doubter of the assurance
that the President gave.
Binay, in a statement, said that
if Mrs. Arroyo really wants to convince the public that there will
be elections in 2010, “she should tell her allies in Congress to
drop their bid for Charter change.”
He noted that the President’s
allies have set plenary discussion on a resolution for a House-only
Constituent Assembly despite the admission that the chamber will not
be able to get the needed vote.
Also, according to Binay, Mrs.
Arroyo’s assurance was no guarantee that the elections would be
clean and honest as long as she remained in Malacañang, and that
power would be handed over to her successor, especially if the next
president comes from the opposition.
In her speech at the Manila
Hotel, Mrs. Arroyo underscored the need to fully automate next
year’s polls, saying this was the best guarantee that the 2010
electoral exercise would be credible. Electoral reform through
automation, she said, is part of the 10-point agenda of her
administration.
Formidable force
The emergence of the Lakas-Kampi
CMD as one party will be the administration’s finest weapon and
guarantee for success in 2010, the President added.
“I look upon the Lakad-Kampi
CMD moving as one, fighting as one, as the instrument and vehicle
for electing the best, most qualified and the worthiest leaders of
our country,” she said.
“Let us strive for victory
which not only our party but the entire nation and our democracy can
claim as their own,” Mrs. Arroyo added.
The President, also the chairman
of Lakas-CMD, presided over the gathering of political figures at
the Manila Hotel.
Gabriel Claudio, the presidential
adviser for political affairs, said that after the merger they would
tackle other problems within the party as well as the selection
process for a standard-bearer in 2010.
Lakas-CMD chairman emeritus and
former President Fidel Ramos was not present during the historic
announcement of the merger. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said
that Ramos did not attend because he just arrived from a trip
abroad.
Kampi president and Rep. Luis
Villafuerte of Camarines Sur was also absent during the announcement
of the merger.
Bayani boycott
Chairman Bayani Fernando of the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) boycotted the
affair “for its lack of fairness.”
In a statement, Fernando said
that he also decided to skip the formal announcement of the merger
because of “obvious preference of some party leaders for
candidates who are not even Lakas or Kampi members and for ignoring
party loyalists like me and other long-time card-bearers.”
“I have no intention of
attending my own funeral,” said the MMDA chief, who earlier also
formally announced his presidential bid in the 2010 elections under
his political party, Lakas-CMD.
“Several party leaders, in
their press statements, could not contain their enthusiasm for their
favorites like Vice President Noli de Castro and Defense Secretary
Gilbert Teodoro, who are not even Lakas-CMD party members,” he
added.
One such leader, Fernando said,
“was quoted as saying that the merger of Kampi and Lakas-CMD will
help members decide who between de Castro and Teodoro will make the
better presidential candidate.”
Judging from these officials’
statements and body language, Fernando said that they also
“obviously” want to influence the party in choosing the official
standard-bearer. “They are conditioning the minds of the public to
accept an inevitable de Castro or Teodoro candidacy.”
Despite the fact that he is a
Lakas member, a loyal supporter and advocate of its causes,
according to Fernando, he is being treated as a non-entity by some
party officials. “My party thinks that I am an invisible man. Is
this the kind of politics Lakas-Kampi will espouse?”
Fernando said he was willing to
go through the selection process that the new party would adopt, on
condition that they would start with a clean slate. “We ought to
have, as the popular phrase goes, a level playing field.”
He challenged Lakas-Kampi leaders
“not to play party politics according to the old trapo
[traditional politician] rules but to bring into the party fresh
ideas that will energize the government, should they win.”
Shaky marriage
Like Fernando but for a different
reason, the United Opposition (UNO) on Thursday also described the
merger as a “shaky marriage destined for divorce.”
“Vice President Noli de Castro
is non-committal, while [Defense Secretary Gilbert] Teodoro is
indicating that he will run as an independent if he is not chosen as
the standard-bearer,” UNO president and Makati City Mayor Jejomar
Binay said in a statement.
“The big guns like former
President Ramos, Rep. Jose de Venecia and Rep. Luis Villafuerte are
absent, and at the local level, Lakas and Kampi members do not see
eye to eye,” he added.
Earlier, former President Joseph
Estrada belittled the looming merger of the majority parties, saying
the two already act as one and just pretend to be separate parties.
Binay said the so-called
formidable political machinery arising from the Lakas-Kampi CMD
would not be able to surmount the people’s supposed
dissatisfaction with the administration of Mrs. Arroyo.
“Mrs. Arroyo will be the issue
in 2010. Regardless of the popularity or credentials of her national
candidates, they will have to defend her record in government,” he
added. Her “endorsement will be the kiss of death for any
candidate,” Binay said.
De Castro and Teodoro supposedly
are both being groomed by the Lakas-Kampi CMD as possible
standard-bearers in the 2010 elections.
--With Cris G. Odronia
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