Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:06:00 11/19/2009
Filed Under: Inquirer Politics, Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Loren Legarda
MANILA, Philippines — The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) is backing only the vice presidential candidacy of Sen. Loren Legarda, allowing its members to freely support whomever they want to be the country’s next president.Sen. Edgardo Angara, LDP president, said in an ambush interview at the Senate that his political party was neither fielding its own standard-bearer for the May polls nor endorsing a presidential candidate of another party.
“We’re not going to field a presidential candidate, but what we want to support is a vice president. We’ll leave the choice of the president to our party members,” said the leader of the country’s third largest party with five House representatives, two governors and about 300 mayors.
In opting not to anoint a presidential candidate at its national executive council meeting at Manila Hotel on Thursday, the LDP is following in the footstep of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the second biggest party after the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
The NPC has also opted not to field a presidential candidate after its presumptive standard-bearer, Sen. Francis Escudero, resigned. The coalition has decided against supporting Sen. Manny Villar, the Nacionalista Party’s presidential candidate, who is running with Sen. Loren Legarda, an NPC stalwart.
Undecided on president
Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco, son of business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, the NPC founder, said that while the coalition had agreed to allow Legarda, officially its vice presidential candidate, to run with anyone she desired, this did not mean the party would follow her lead.
Asked why the LDP was reluctant to support any presidential candidate, Angara said:
“I’ve not made up my mind ... because I don’t really know what they can do and what they will do. Second, I’d like to learn more about the people who are surrounding them,” he said. He said he did not know many of these people.
The LDP chief was asked about the possibility of backing recently resigned Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., the administration’s presidential candidate.
“He’s intellectually prepared. But he belongs to the party which is not the most popular. That’s an albatross around his neck,” Angara said.
He said that Teodoro’s selection of actor Edu Manzano as running mate had no “add-on” value.
On the chances of former President Joseph Estrada regaining the presidency, Angara admitted that the ousted leader was still “strong among the grass-roots, especially in Mindanao.”
“But it will be very challenging because of the Noynoy (Benigno Aquino III) phenomenon. He’s not fighting like in 1998 when he had a grass-roots machinery, which he lacks now,” said the senator who supported Estrada’s successful presidential run.
As for the Nacionalista Party (NP), Angara said Villar “appears to have a political machinery.”
But he warned Villar against relying too much on incumbent officials who had lately joined the NP.
“As you know in Philippine politics, if you’re just relying on the incumbents, those who are seeking public office, the tendency of these persons is to just seek their own interest. You become secondary,” Angara said.
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091119-237129/Angara-LDP-only-backing-Legarda
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