MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis Escudero is expected to announce his decision to run for vice president at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan at 8 a.m. today.Former senator Sergio Osmeña III, Escudero’s former campaign manager, said he might work again for the senator after disclosing on GMA 7 yesterday morning that Escudero would run for vice president next year.
Escudero confirmed meeting with LP standard bearer, Sen. Benigno Aquino III, but clarified they did not talk about his plans and that it was not true Aquino was asking him to be their campaign manager. Escudero said they only had to catch up as long-time friends and that he would think first who to support among the presidential hopefuls.
In the television interview, Osmeña said Escudero would be an independent candidate.
Last month, Escudero left the NPC supposedly to have a free hand in his political decisions.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who ran as an independent in the 2007 senatorial elections, said things would not be easy for Escudero, especially with the strong Aquino-Roxas tandem.
“What applied in 2007 may not apply in 2010,” he said.
“Clearly, as surveys show, Filipinos are overwhelmingly supporting the Noy-Mar ticket.
“Had support in the polls been distributed evenly amongst four or five candidates, an independent run would stand a chance.
“But this was before Noynoy announced his bid. The field has changed dramatically with Noynoy’s entry, and Senator Mar Roxas now has a wide margin against other VP hopefuls.”
“Back in 2007, the voters looked at the choices and said ‘pare-pareho lang silang lahat (they’re all the same).’ That’s not the case today as the overwhelming support for Noynoy’s candidacy is unprecedented, and his strong support is pulling up Mar’s VP candidacy to the detriment of any other VP bid, more so an independent VP campaign.”
Sen. Loren Legarda said Escudero’s announcement was also not a welcome development because Escudero left her and would now run against her.
The two were supposed to be the Nationalist People’s Coalition’s presidential and vice presidential tandem, but Escudero decided to bolt the NPC.
However, Escudero said his decision to leave NPC has nothing to do with Legarda as it was based on a principled stance of serving the people.
“Besides, she also exercised her free decision in joining (Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel) Villar, with whom she was talking even before I bolted NPC.”
Earlier, Escudero said on television that Legarda must explain to the people why she was running with Villar after pushing for his ouster as Senate president.
Sen. Jamby Madrigal accused Legarda of being a political opportunist and becoming a girl Friday of Villar.
Legarda was “changing like the climate” into whatever would suit her needs, she added.
Reliable sources disclosed Legarda was non-committal to Escudero despite their many talks and being in the same party as she had been entertaining offers from other parties.
Other sources said Escudero appeared to have lost NPC support in his presidential bid and decided to go independent.
Escudero said he had not made a final decision yet on whether he would run in 2010 and for what post, although those close to him had announced that he might seek the vice presidency.
Escudero himself gave hints that because of the current political situation, he had to think carefully about his plans. – Aurea Calica, Delon Porcalla
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=526321&publicationSubCategoryId=63
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