MANILA - Malacañang on Wednesday fended off rumors of the possible defection by known administration ally Mike Defensor, saying that the former presidential management staff chief has yet to reveal his political plans.Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was surprised when asked if Defensor would indeed be supporting the presidential bid of Liberal Party bet Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.
"I don't know," Ermita told reporters.
The executive secretary said he has yet to meet with Defensor recently to discuss his political plans.
A Manila Times report earlier quoted Defensor as saying that the Liberal Party should support Aquino and his running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas, if the entire party endorses their candidacies. "My point is that even with Mar and Noynoy it should never happen that the party become the major stumbling block for their candidacy. Meaning if Noynoy offers himself to the people the Liberal Party must be behind him. The same case with Mar," he said in a Manila Times roundtable.
In the same report, Defensor said warring factions within the Liberal Party are set to unite and that party members have agreed in principle to back Aquino in his presidential bid. Defensor and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza started the schism in the party after they refused to withdraw support for President Arroyo at the height of the 2005 "Hello, Garci" scandal.
Ermita, meanwhile, doused rumors that Atienza would back the presidential bid of former president Joseph Estrada. He said Atienza told him personally that he would remain loyal to the Arroyo administration.
Ermita said he remained confident that Cabinet members would support Lakas-Kampi CMD presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro in the 2010 elections. He said Lakas-Kampi CMD is wooing a "well-known personality" to be Teodoro's runningmate. With reports from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
as of 10/21/2009 3:34 PM
Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/10/21/09/mike-defensor-defecting-palace-doesnt-know
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