THE administration party’s national convention has been postponed for a week because most congressmen, led by House Speaker Prospero Nograles, are in the United States to watch the title bout between challenger Manny Pacquiao and Puerto Rican welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14.The meeting, which is supposed to proclaim the party’s standard bearer Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and his as yet unnamed running mate, was moved to Nov. 19 from Nov. 12.
The venue was also moved to Manila from Cebu after talks to get Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to run with Teodoro fell through.
The Garcia family wanted the governor, who is up for re-election in 2010, to finish her term, highly-placed sources in Lakas-Kampi said.
For that reason, the Lakas-Kampi-CMD has continued informal talks with vice-presidential bet Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and actor and television host Edu Manzano to be Teodoro’s running mate.
But politics has taken a back seat to boxing for now. Nograles, an avid Pacquiao fan, left for the United States on Oct. 27.
The House went on a month-long recess on Oct. 16 and rushed the passage of the national budget over a two-week stretch.
Nograles said the congressmen, about 50 of them, went to Las Vegas at their own expense, but their absence resulted in the House failing to muster a quorum for about a week.
When session resumes, the House is expected to pass on third and final reading the P1.541-trillion spending bill that is being rushed to avoid a reenactment of the budget and to ensure funds are available for rehabilitation and reconstruction following the devastation caused by two deadly storms.
But some lawmakers said they were not in the US to watch the boxing match.
Zambales Rep. Maria Milagros Magsaysay, who is now in New York, said she was returning to Manila on Nov. 8 in time for the resumption of congressional sessions on Nov. 9.
Magsaysay said the Lakas-Kampi-CMD convention was moved to Manila because it would be more expensive to hold it in Cebu, which was Nograles’ first choice.
“When Secretary [Gabriel] Claudio started doing the computations, it turned out that it is more expensive to bring the people there,” she said.
Magsaysay said some delegates from Mindanao and some parts of the Visayas like Siquijor would have to pass through Manila to get to Cebu and back.
Since all congressmen kept a residence in Manila, there would also be no need to billet them in hotels, she said.
Only the mayors and governors would have to stay in hotels if the convention was in Manila, Magsaysay said.
Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2009/november/3/news1.isx&d=/2009/november/3
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