SENATOR Manuel Villar Jr. is courting Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay to be his vice presidential running mate, convinced that the Supreme Court will bar deposed President Joseph Estrada from running, a ranking Nacionalista Party member said yesterday.The Nacionalista stalwart, who requested anonymity, said the vice presidential slot remains vacant and is being reserved for Binay and two other potential candidates.
Party spokesman Gilbert Remulla confirmed Villar was negotiating with other candidates to be his vice president. These include, Binay, Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.
Remulla said the offer was made to Binay even before Estrada picked him to be his running mate.
The Escudero-Legarda camp confirmed Villar had made an offer but said the NPC was bent on fielding its own standard-bearer, Escudero, with Legarda as his running mate.
“Villar is convinced Erap [Estrada] will be disqualified from running by the high court because the Constitution clearly provides that no President can seek reelection,” the Nacionalista official said.
Estrada, ousted from office by a civilian-backed revolt, insists he is not covered by the provision because he did not complete his six-year term.
Before Estrada’s announcement of his presidential bid, Villar, Escudero and Liberal Party presidential aspirant and Senator Benigno Aquino III separately met with Estrada to dissuade him from running and tried to convince him instead to throw his support behind their respective parties.
Estrada turned them all down and decided to run, making good his promise that if the opposition candidates would not unite and field a single presidential bet, he himself would contest the most coveted post.
“The NP has not decided yet as to who we are going to field as vice president. We are not in a hurry, anyway. We will announce Manny Villar’s running mate at the right time,” Remulla told Standard Today.
Remulla also said this is also the reason several senatorial slots remain up for grabs. At least four senatorial slots are being reserved for the vice presidential bet to name, he said.
“We understand that whoever agrees to be Villar’s vice president would bring in with him or with her some people, including candidates for senator and for other local posts,” Remulla said.
“We will have a complete senatorial slate when we have found the deserving running mate,” Remulla said.
Remulla refused to comment on former Senator Agapito Aquino’s claim that the NP and LP are backing him in his mayoralty bid in Makati City.
The NP source said Remulla could not make an official statement in deference to Binay, who has yet to accept Villar’s offer.
“We cannot officially commit to Butz just yet because once Binay agrees to be Manny’s vice president, we are giving Binay the last say as to who he is going to field in Makati. We would be glad if he chooses Butz Aquino but is it all up to him,” the source told Standard Today.
Binay has remained silent on Aquino’s plans in Makati, saying only in a text message that it was his “right and prerogative” to run for office and that he wished him luck.
Earlier, Binay had endorsed his vice mayor, Ernesto Mercado, as his replacement, and his son Jejomar Jr., for vice mayor.
Aquino’s entry into Makati politics could throw that equation out of kilter because of Binay’s close ties with the Aquino family.
But a friend of Butz Aquino said he did not seem physically fit to run a grueling campaign.
“The last time I saw him last month, he was walking very slowly and tentatively,” the friend said. With Rudy Brul
Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2009/october/24/news1.isx&d=/2009/october/24
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