Shake-up rocks Lakas-CMD Kampi leadership

MANILA, Philippines - A major shake-up rocked the Lakas-CMD-Kampi as the party last night named Rep. Amelita Villarosa as party chairman, replacing presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro Jr. who resigned suddenly last Tuesday.

This followed the resignations of two other key party officials – Sarangani Gov. Miguel Dominguez and Francis Manglapus, Lakas-Kampi-CMD president and secretary-general, respectively – triggering speculations that the ruling party is in disarray and its electoral campaign unraveling.

Also last night, Manglapus was named party president and Ray Roquero took over as secretary-general.

Villarosa is President Arroyo’s favorite traveling companion. She had also admitted that the party was the source of the brown paper bags filled with cash distributed to governors at Malacañang at the height of the last impeachment attempt against Mrs. Arroyo.

The resignations came as Teodoro’s survey ratings have failed to improve with the elections just over a month away.

In his letter to the Lakas-Kampi-CMD national executive committee, Teodoro said he wanted to be freed of the heavy burden of his duties as chairman and focus on his campaign.

Earlier, Roquero said the resignations of Dominguez and Manglapus were meant to give the incoming party chairman a free hand in selecting his deputies.

“These (resignations) are a daring maneuver with the objective of winning the battle,” Roquero told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Roquero and Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Prospero Pichay said the resignations are not effective until accepted by the party’s national executive committee.

“Parang hindi nga ito (this doesn’t look) normal in terms of the normal routine of the party,” Roquero told ANC, referring to the resignations. “But there are some developments which might also help the campaign of our standard-bearer Gibo Teodoro. He is still the standard-bearer of the party,” he said.

He said that under the Lakas-Kampi-CMD constitution and bylaws, Teodoro could be replaced by either of the party’s vice-chairmen, vice-presidential bet Edu Manzano and re-electionist Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno.

“We will stay together as a party. As (Teodoro) said, Lakas-Kampi is not an ordinary party. We have 12,891 local and national candidates running for various positions and these have to be attended to by the national chairman. We need somebody who will attend to this,” Roquero said.

Deputy secretary-general Reggie Velasco pointed out that Teodoro has had to deal with the concerns and problems of about 15,000 administration candidates all over the country on a daily basis.

The same concerns bothered Dominguez, who is seeking re-election. Manglapus, he said, wanted to concentrate his attention on Teodoro’s campaign.

“That’s all there is to it,” Velasco said in a telephone interview.

Some Lakas-Kampi-CMD stalwarts have found no comfort in the official explanation for the resignations.

Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo told a news briefing yesterday the Palace was concerned over the developments but said President Arroyo was preoccupied with taking care of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, who is recovering at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City from a heart ailment.

“I’m worried about what’s happening and the effect of this on our overall campaign,” a Lakas-Kampi-CMD official, who is also deeply involved in the administration campaign, said. He declined to be named. – With Jess Diaz, Delon Porcalla, Jaime Laude