Ex-Comelec commissioner is new KBL chairman

MANILA, Philippines - A former commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) assumed yesterday the position of president and chairman of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).

Lawyer Jaime Opinion, erstwhile KBL executive vice president, assumed the post after lawyer Vicente Millora resigned to be a nominee of a party-list group of families of overseas workers.

“The KBL will remain a political force in the coming election. I will reach out to the members of the party, including the family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, the founder of the party,” Opinion told The STAR in an interview.

KBL vice presidential candidate Jay Sonza is now the leading national candidate after the Comelec disqualified Vetellano Acosta as its presidential standard-bearer.

The party has a set of guest candidates, which include Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Papin and Regalado Maambong.

Opinion said even if Marcos is already with the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., he is still considered a party member.

“KBL will not be in existence without Marcos,” he said

The KBL has also fielded local candidates from governor down to town mayor across the country.

Opinion, former delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention representing the province of Eastern Samar, was also a senior Comelec official before the EDSA 1986 revolution.

He was among the most vocal critics of US Sen. Richard Lugar during the 1986 snap election shortly before the EDSA people power revolt.

Opinion was among the founding members of the KBL along with former ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco.

During the first presidential election after the EDSA revolt, the KBL was divided into two factions – the Yñiguez wing of former speaker Nicanor Yñiguez that supported the presidential candidacy of Cojuangco, and the Millora wing that supported the candidacy of former first lady Imelda Marcos.

Opinion said the Yñiguez wing of the party later on became Cojuangco’s Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

He said although the core group of KBL has already joined other political parties, he still tries to reach out to them to ensure victory in the coming election.

“The KBL is now open to political alliance with other parties,” he said, adding that it will be open to supporting a presidential candidate of another party as soon as the Comelec rules with finality on the disqualification of their presidential candidate.