Lakas, Kampi vow to crush opposition in 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Stalwarts of administration parties Lakas-CMD and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) have started laying the groundwork for a strong alliance to dispel predictions that the opposition will easily win in the May 2010 presidential elections.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who is also Kampi chairman, said Kampi has temporarily called off their merger with Lakas to iron out kinks in the local level first, before problems on the national level can finally be threshed out.

The Cabinet member met with Speaker Prospero Nograles, Lakas president, and they agreed to discuss the details on the provincial level, as local chief executives who belong to the administration coalition have been locking horns since the May 2007 elections.

“The name (of the merger) is immaterial, the bottomline here is we will continue to be the administration party even after the 2010 presidential elections,” Nograles said.  “Our political careers hinge largely on the presidential election.”

Puno said Kampi and Lakas-CMD want to first achieve unification on the provincial level.

“We will temporarily leave the other areas that are not possible (to resolve),” he said. “This is a practical thing. Then after that, we can talk of full, national merger.”

Puno, who is also President Arroyo’s political adviser, said the administration is addressing the pressing issues this early in order to beat the opposition in 2010.

“If we organize ourselves, there is no reason why this party will not win anywhere,” he said.

Puno said the Lakas-Kampi merger may be done before year end.

Ironing out kinks in the proposed merger might take five months, he added.

Puno, chairman of Kampi which Mrs. Arroyo founded and of which she is titular head, said merger talks in the national level will have to give way first to concerns in the local or provincial level.

“It may take us 90 days or three months for this, and probably another two months on the national scale,” he told Kampi members that he called to a meeting in Greenhills early this week, so that they can fix the problem before he leaves for abroad.

Puno said they have to pursue a “two-tiered merger” to address, initially, the problematic concerns on the local level.

“There are many problems in the merger,” he said.

“We can’t run away from that. We can’t ignore it because it will only recur in the future. We will be going through a process that will ensure that the administration is the strongest party in 2010.”

Puno said the following is a prelude to a merger:

• The creation of a platform committee that will be tasked to discuss Lakas and Kampi’s vision to achieve a common ground;

•  Legal study of what will be the implication of a merger, coalition or association; and

• The organizational panel that will attempt to bridge the disputes in areas where Lakas and Kampi clash.

“If there is a dispute, let us set aside that first,” he said.  “We’ll try to solve the areas where there is already commonality.”

Nograles said he has been instructed by Mrs. Arroyo, who acts as Lakas chairman, to “fast-track the merger” in light of the disappointing results in the May 2007 senatorial elections, where only three of the administration’s 12 candidates won. 

“Political lessons were learned,” he said. “It’s painful and mahirap. The national candidates suffered a lot. And the House (of Representatives) paid dearly for it. Our bills have 50/50 chances of being passed in the Senate. But 2010 is a different election.”

Last March, Mrs. Arroyo gave the go-signal for the merger of the Lakas  and Kampi, the country’s second largest political party.

Mrs. Arroyo said they have now formed a political “colossus and a powerhouse,” in time for the May 2010 presidential elections.

“I endorse the merger of Lakas-CMD and Kampi,” Mrs. Arroyo declared in a speech she delivered at the Lakas national directorate meeting at the Manila Hotel yesterday.

“The combination will result in a powerhouse team. The merged parties will be like a colossus that brings to mind former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. Let us work hard for the party’s victory in 2010.” — Delon Porcalla