(UPDATED - 3:30 p.m.) Senate president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada has turned down the offer of the Nacionalista Party (NP) to become its guest senatorial candidate.Estrada, who earlier promised to withdraw his signature from a Senate resolution clearing Villar in the C-5 road mess, has informed Se. Manuel Villar Jr, NP standard-bearer, of his decision not to run under the latter's party.
In his letter to Villar, copies of which were given to media on Friday, Estrada also said that his father, former President Joseph Estrada, will have his own senatorial slate under the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) where Jinggoy holds post as executive vice president.
At a press conference in the Senate, Estrada also denied that he was planning to transfer to NP. “(K)ahit kailan hindi po ako pwedeng umalis sa aming partido at siyempre ang aking susuportahan ay walang iba, ang aking ama."
(I will never leave the party and of course I will support, no other than, my father.)
Sen. Estrada decided to withdraw his signature from the pro-Villar resolution not because he thought that the NP standard-bearer was guilty, but because the resolution was prematurely made public.
Despite the withdrawal, Estrada said he remained in good terms with Villar. “I am not severing my ties with anybody, especially with Sen. Manny Villar. I respect him as one of my colleagues here in the Senate. I still value him as a dear friend."
He said his signing of the resolution and expression of gratitude to the earlier invitation from NP to be its guest candidate were being exploited by some quarters “to sow intrigue against me in an attempt to undermine my own father’s candidacy."
“Such premature filing might give rise to doubts, suspicions and wild speculations against us, the signatories, thus obliterating its otherwise honest intent," he said.
There were rumors that the 12 senators who signed the resolution received P10 million each. Villar and the other senators who signed the document had denied the allegation.
Jinggoy said he was assured that the resolution would be presented after the Committee of the Whole had rendered its final report on the matter.
The chairman of the committee looking into the alleged conflict of interest of Villar on government road projects is Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, a close ally of the elder Estrada.
Jinggoy said he felt sorry for the unintended harm or strain that the developments might have inflicted on his "close" relationship with Enrile, the chairman emeritus of PMP.
“This is precisely what I wanted to avoid – to be perceived as having no respect nor due regard not only for the process but for the Senate President," said Estrada. - AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/177451/jinggoy-wont-run-as-villars-guest-senatorial-candidate
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