LDP nominates Ping as ’04 bet

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson formally launched his presidential bid yesterday by accepting the nomination of a sector of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) and the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) to be its standard-bearer.

Over 1,500 LDP and PMP leaders led by House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla and LDP secretary general Makati Rep. Agapito Aquino proclaimed Lacson as their standard bearer.

The nomination, however, was questioned by LDP president Sen. Edgardo Angara, who said it was "unauthorized and illegal."

Lacson’s acceptance of the nomination was greeted by wild cheers from his supporters, who filled the jampacked ballroom of the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.

"On this day, I wholeheartedly accept the challenge put before me, the challenge of a country that is overburdened, abused and seemingly left without hope for a good and orderly life," Lacson said in Filipino.

Lacson bared his eight-point platform of governance, saying "what is right should be kept right and what is wrong should be set right."

"The Philippines is in an intensive care unit," he said. "Crime rules, corruption reigns. Life is cheap. The economy is in ruins. The country’s infrastructure is falling apart. Hopelessness has replaced pessimism."

Besides fighting crime and corruption, Lacson also promised to put a stop to extravagant spending by the government, provide more jobs, upgrade the education system, invite more investors, strengthen the justice system and implement a pro-poor national health policy under a national health insurance law.

Topping Lacson’s concerns for the health sector are his promises to lower the prices of medicines, particularly for tuberculosis, and the implementation of a population management program and a nationwide child immunization program.

He also promised to crack the whip on erring government officials and implement the death penalty on those convicted of committing heinous crimes, particularly drug trafficking and kidnapping.

Like the others vying for the presidency, Lacson said he will deliver on his promises within the first year of his term if he is to be elected.

Lacson also promised to rid each barangay of crime within the first six months of his term and upgrade the capability of the PNP — particularly in the field of forensic investigation — within his first year in office.

He promised full transparency in all government transactions within his first six months as president. All transactions, he said, will be done electronically, or over the Internet for public monitoring.

He also promised to devolve more functions from the national government to local government units (LGUs) and equip all public schools with computers, reinstate English as the medium of instruction and provide all public schools with books. Lacson also promised to have 92,000 kilometers of roads paved, promote tourism, intensify the irrigation and fisheries programs and expand the national electrification program, particularly in the Visayas.

All of these programs, he said, are contained in his "Rebuild the Philippines Program," which will be his administration’s cornerstone for public spending for the duration of his term. Funding for all these projects he said, will come from intensified tax collection and the prosecution of tax evaders with the help of LGUs.

Drop Bid, Ping Asked

Meanwhile, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo’s lawyer, Jesus Santos, said it would be better for Lacson to drop his presidential ambitions.

"The honorable thing for him to do now is to withdraw from the race, rather than wait for his political extinction as established by his falling ratings," Santos said.

Santos attributed the drop in Lacson’s ratings to the senator’s "failure to prove his so-called Jose Pidal exposé and other personal attacks designed to destroy the Arroyo family."

Lacson, he said, would have fared better in the ratings if he had focused on passing legislative measures to improve socio-economic conditions in the country.

Lacson "chose mudslinging to discredit the president... and her family. The surveys proved that people are tired of politicking and would not support any candidates with platforms of intimidation and personal vendetta," he said.

Lacson’s nomination comes a day after the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed actor Fernando Poe leading the pack of presidential aspirants with 25 percent of respondents expressing support for him.

Poe was tailed by Sen. Noli de Castro, former senator Raul Roco, President Arroyo and Lacson, who brought up the rear with just 10 percent of respondents favoring him.

The proclamation highlighted the division in the ranks of the opposition, as it was made a day after Angara forged an alliance with the PMP and the PDP-Laban.

Angara said the LDP "had just signed a covenant with the two other opposition parties (PDP-Laban and PMP) and there is a committee that has to choose our single candidate." The pro-Lacson faction, he said "don’t represent the (LDP) party."

Angara is facing a mutiny within his own party and was conspicuously absent at Lacson’s proclamation. He favors the nomination of Poe as the standard-bearer of the united opposition.

"It seems they no longer respect the party rules," Angara said of the pro-Lacson faction of the LDP. "As soon as we have nominated our single candidate, we cannot allow our party-mates to do this disharmony. Ninety-nine percent of the members of the LDP are behind us. They only have the support of one percent of LDP membership. These are reflections of their childishness."

Angara also said Lacson can only run as an independent presidential candidate and not as LDP standard-bearer "if he files his candidacy while the selection is not yet done in the party."

Despite the division in the ranks of the LDP, Angara is optimistic there will be no breakup of the party. He added that since "our concentration is to have a single candidate for the united opposition, they must be the ones to reconcile with us."

"If these disgruntled groups are enlightened, we will talk with them, but I will not meet with Senator Lacson about the matter anymore," Angara said.

"The united opposition will come out with its standard-bearer on or before Dec. 15," he added. "Meanwhile, the complete list of senatorial bets will be ready on or before Jan. 2 next year."

Lacson’s proclamation also spurred former senator Juan Ponce Enrile to resign his post as chairman of the opposition’s selection facilitation committee.

"The proclamation has defied and grossly undermined the entire selection process initiated by the facilitation committee," Enrile said.

He added that Lacson’s proclamation has challenged the very essence of the committee — that of bringing together Lacson and Poe and paving the way for the united opposition to develop a clear-cut selection process and come up with a single candidate for next year’s elections.

"The divisive action undertaken by the splinter group in the LDP has rendered the committee useless," he said.

However, Enrile said he has formed the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), which has made the LDP selection committee unnecessary. "The work inside the coalition (KNP) will replace the functions of the committee."

"The goal of uniting the opposition prevails over all our actions. It will not be sacrificed," Enrile said. "Many have indicated their intention to join KNP. Unification is imminent."

In Baguio City, the LDP leadership remained composed, despite the announcement of Lacson’s proclamation as LDP standard-bearer.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III brushed aside the pro-Lacson faction of his party as "just a few disgruntled members."

Sotto told reporters in the summer capital that the bulk of LDP members remain loyal to Angara and will support anybody Angara picks as the party’s presidential candidate.

Anger At Angara

In nominating Lacson, Angara’s party-mates in the House could not hide their anger at their party boss. Padilla declared that the group proclaiming Lacson truly represent the LDP, as they came from the provinces.

"This is the real LDP. There are only two who are trying to wreck the party and they are not here. One is a dictator and the other is a comedian," Padilla said, referring to Angara and Sotto, Poe’s principal backers.

Ousted former President Joseph Estrada earlier asked the opposition to back the presidential bid of Poe, his buddy of 40 years. Estrada also promised to support Poe’s candidacy.

Iloilo Rep. Rolex Suplico, whom Angara’s supporters in the West Visayas want to oust for disloyalty to the party, said it is Angara who is disloyal to the party for supporting Poe, who is not a member of the LDP.

PMP vice president and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and PMP secretary general Lito Banayo represented the PMP at Lacson’s proclamation.

Lacson, Zamora and Banayo were set to meet Estrada at his detention center at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal to personally tell him that they won’t support Poe.

Zamora is Lacson’s campaign manager, while Banayo, a former political adviser of Estrada, is the senator’s political strategist and spokesman.

Lacson was Estrada’s favorite policeman. He headed the Philippine National Police (PNP) for 14 months of Estrada’s short-lived administration.

While he accepted the challenge of seeking the presidency in 2004, Lacson said he, too, was a victim of injustice as he lashed out at the Arroyo administration.

He said the administration’s "smear campaign" against him is so good that many are convinced of the "invented" accusations against him, such as links to kidnapping, illegal drug trafficking and money laundering groups. Lacson denied these accusations.

"We’re just seeing excitement over (Poe’s) announcement (of his candidacy)," Zamora said. "That (tailend in survey) will collapse when the hard questions about critical issues of governance are put to him." — With Nikko Dizon, Artemio Dumlao, Jose Rodel Clapano