Amid talks on possible political alignments for the 2010 presidential elections, Sen. Edgardo Angara declared yesterday that the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) would play the “kingmaker” or become the “swing vote” in determining the winners.
Angara, though, stressed it was still too early to say who would be supported by the LDP despite reports that he was rooting for Sen. Loren Legarda.
Angara clarified that his support for Legarda in the 2004 elections does not mean supporting her presidential bid, if any, for 2010.
Angara is the president of the LDP that coalesced with the opposition to support the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 presidential elections, with Legarda as running mate.
Both Poe, who died in December 2004, and Legarda lost their respective bids against President Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro.
In the May 2007 elections, Angara led the LDP, which coalesced with the ruling party Lakas, and was re-elected to the Senate.
“We (the LDP) will be the swing vote. As in many elections, we determine the outcome because we have over 300 mayors all over the country and support from organizations in the grassroots,” Angara said.
Legarda, who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), on the other hand, has yet to declare her intentions for the 2010 derby.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Sen. Richard Gordon said the plans to reform the electoral system should be prioritized before preparations for the 2010 elections are bared.
Pangilinan and Gordon issued separate statements saying the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should undertake reforms to ensure a clean electoral exercise in 2010.
Pangilinan said political parties and their leaders must make sure the Comelec appointees would be “men and women with integrity and capacity.”
“Without an independent and corrupt-free Comelec, all this talk about 2010 is a waste of time,” he said.
Gordon, for his part, also asked the government to publish the complete list of 56 possible nominees for the position of chairman of the Comelec.
Former ambassador Henrietta de Villa, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chairman, said presidential wannabes should not lose track of their primary goal of serving the people.
The earlier presidential hopefuls announce their intentions to run, the earlier the public could form its opinion on the candidates’ credibility and track record, she said.
Malacañang, on the other hand, warned aspirants to refrain from using dirty tricks or face rejection from the electorate.
Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said the Filipino people have grown tired of destabilization efforts so any new attempt to overthrow the President would not succeed.
Remonde cited the statement made by Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno who revealed Friday the efforts of some groups to take over the government.
Remonde noted the general sentiment of the people is to wait for the 2010 elections to see change.
Rather than entertaining the power grab plots, Remonde said the aspirants should use their influence to convince the people that they deserve to be in Malacañang in 2010.
Transactional politics
Gordon, for his part, slammed the “transactional politics” being practiced by some presidential hopefuls.
“When will we ever learn?” Gordon asked in the wake of reports that former President Joseph Estrada would seek another mandate in 2010 should the opposition remain divided in fielding a single candidate.
Estrada had clarified he would not seek re-election and would give way to other potential presidential candidates, Gordon, however, said some opposition personalities are already “cozying up” to Estrada to get the coveted endorsement.
Gordon said Estrada, though elected by a landslide in 1998, was ousted in a popular uprising in 2001 over corruption charges that later led to his conviction of plunder.
“Erap (Estrada) is badly disfigured due to his conviction by a legal court. He is the trophy of the Philippine judiciary system, except that it was tainted by President Arroyo by pardoning him without even serving a single day in prison,” Gordon said.
“Now that he is free man, Estrada wants to make himself feel important by buying the stairway to heaven. By saying that he will run, Erap is trying to be a player again so politicians will cozy up to him. That’s why he is distributing gifts left and right,” he said.
Gordon said Estrada was “actually worse than the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos because Estrada was convicted while Marcos was not.”
He said Estrada is now practicing “transactional politics” not realizing that the people cozying up to him are the same people who abandoned him and caused him his downfall.
Gordon named Senate President Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. and Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II as among those seeking Estrada’s political blessings.
Roxas was a former Cabinet member of Estrada whose resignation triggered a momentum in the bid to oust the former movie star.
Villar, then the Speaker, made the historic move of hastily transmitting the impeachment complaint against Estrada to the Senate in 2000, which paved the way for his trial.
Both are known presidential contenders in 2010, Gordon said.
“These are the same people who had also helped ask Mrs. Arroyo to pardon Estrada, proof that each one is into transactional politics,” he added.
Laying the predicate
Instead of focusing on Estrada trying to spruce up his image, Gordon said the country should focus on implementing electoral reforms to avoid fraud.
He said the Comelec should start the reforms in the Aug. 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and eventually in the presidential elections in 2010.
Such reforms, Gordon said, should start with Mrs. Arroyo showing transparency in the selection process involving the appointment of the next chairman and commissioners of the Comelec.
Gordon said the Arroyo administration should allow all the candidates to advertise for free in the government channels and significantly limit advertising in private stations.
“Otherwise, elections will always be a rich man’s game,” he said. “If the country has to change, elections have to be reformed.”
De Villa, for her part, urged the public to make their voices heard in the selection of Comelec officials.
“If we do not speak, the appointing power (President Arroyo) might think that she could do anything she wants,” she said.
De Villa also reminded the public that the outcome of the 2010 elections would largely depend on who would sit in the Comelec.
The PPCRV earlier said they are nominating lawyer Carlos Medina and retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo to fill the poll body’s top post.
Melo and Medina, chairman of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), were chosen for their “transparency and integrity.”
The PPCRV submitted its recommendation to Malacañang only last month. “We hope that Malacañang will consider them studiously – screen out also our nominees,” De Villa said. - With Marvin Sy and Evelyn Macairan