With defections and realignments, some opt to be fence-sitters

By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:24:00 11/08/2009

Filed Under: Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Politics


MANILA, Philippines--With the mercurial developments in national political parties, local parties are inclined to defer decisions to support top-level candidates and to reassess earlier commitments.

Del Pilar, the local party of former Bulacan Gov. Josefina dela Cruz, has chosen not to align itself with a national party and will make its decision in January, when all certificates of candidacy have been filed and the team-ups, tickets and alliances are much clearer.

Dela Cruz, who is planning to run for her old post, used to belong to the old administration parties Lakas and Kampi. She is not a member of any national party anymore, she said Saturday at the Kapihan sa Sulo forum.

“We don’t have a presidential candidate,” Dela Cruz said of Del Pilar, which was registered in 2003 with her as one of the founders. “We agreed during the meeting that we will decide in January on which party we will join. We feel that there will be many realignments. It’s not wise for us to choose a [candidate] now.”


Fluid situation

Indeed, things are fluid in most of the national political parties.

The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), for one, has a vice presidential aspirant in Sen. Loren Legarda, but no standard-bearer after Sen. Francis Escudero’s abrupt resignation.

The NPC is now deciding which party to align itself with, and its options include the Nacionalista Party, which has yet to find a running mate for its standard-bearer, Sen. Manuel Villar.

The administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD is also scrambling to find a running mate for Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

The only parties that have filled their top two posts are the Liberal Party, which is fielding Sen. Benigno Aquino III and Sen. Mar Roxas, and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)-United Opposition, which has deposed President Joseph Estrada and Jejomar Binay at the top of its ticket.

The field is expected to take clear shape by Dec. 1, the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy.


Reassessment

In Nueva Ecija, the local party Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (Balane) may also reassess its earlier alignment with the NPC in view of Escudero’s resignation, according to Nueva Ecija Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson.

Joson said Balane used to have an informal alliance with the NPC.

He said it might coalesce with Estrada’s PMP, with the alliance forged a month before the May 2010 elections.


Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091108-234897/With-defections-and-realignments-some-opt-to-be-fence-sitters