|
THE
lawyer of former President Joseph Estrada said that all
of the three senatorial candidates of the Nacionalista
Party are almost sure of bagging the support and
endorsement of the United Opposition in the May
elections.
Senate
President Manuel Villar, Nacionalista Party president;
Sen. Ralph Recto and House deputy minority leader Alan
Peter Cayetano are “very much in the running” for
inclusion on the opposition’s unity ticket, said lawyer
Rufus Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said that the three have been included in the
official but partial list of opposition candidates for
the Senate.
He said
that the party is also considering the inclusion of
independent Sen. Joker Arroyo.
The
opposition is, however, firm against the inclusion of
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a member of the Liberal Party
Drilon wing, into the ticket because of his “role” in
abetting fraud during the 2004 elections.
“There
was fraud in the different levels of electoral process.
From the registration … to the campaign, voting proper
and to the canvassing. But the saddest part is when
certificates of canvass were considered even if they
were forged,” Rez Cortez, chairman of the national
volunteers for the late presidential candidate Fernando
Poe Jr., said.
“The
leader in this is ‘Mr. Noted,’ the soon to be former
senator Kiko Pangilinan,” he added.
“The
reason why candidates like ‘Mr. Noted’ are forcing
themselves into the opposition is because of the
winnability of the opposition,” Cortez said. He noted
that while the personalities who have worked against Poe
during the elections and even against Estrada have
already asked forgiveness for their sins, he said
Pangilinan has not.
Villar
earlier said that his party will join this year’s
elections and field its own candidates with Arroyo and
Pangilinan independent of the opposition and the
administration if Estrada’s party will not consider the
two candidates.
The
United Opposition (UNO), composed of the PDP-Laban and
Estrada’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, is talking with
the LP-Drilon wing, Laban, a faction of the NPC and the
NP in order to come up with a single senatorial
ticket.
The
opposition is supporting Drilon in his congressional bid
for Iloilo City against comebacking Justice Secretary
Raul Gonzalez.
Rodriguez said that from the original 40 prospective
candidates, the opposition trimmed its list to 18 and
would come out with a final 12 before January 15. He
said that as of Thursday, the list does not include Navy
Lt. SG Antonio Trillanes.
Even the
inclusion of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who has abandoned his
original plan to run for mayor of
Manila,
is still a question as many opposition leaders have not
forgiven him for his role in the defeat of
Poe.
Rodriguez admitted that had Lacson not run against Poe,
the opposition would not have been “in this
quagmire.”
Rodriguez said that the joining political parties have
the upper hand in the line up as the PDP-Laban and the
PMP have only one representative each with Coco Pimentel
and San Juan, Metro Manila Mayor JV Ejercito
respectively, while the other political parties have
more than three. |
