'KBL a dying political party'

MANILA, Philippines - A former party official disclosed yesterday that the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), the once powerful party founded by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, had suffered the most devastating defeat in the party’s political history and is now “comatose.”

Former KBL chairman Vicente Millora said that although the result of the 2010 automated polls showed that the party still has more than 200,000 loyal followers, the party is now in its death throes and may soon die a natural death.

“KBL is now in a comatose state, and it’s up to the Marcoses whether to finally bury it in its final resting place,” Millora told The STAR.

Millora resigned last month as chairman of the KBL to join an overseas party-list group and since then the activities of the party were suspended.

Jay Sonza, KBL vice presidential candidate, said the party is dying since former first lady Imelda Marcos, her son Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, and daughter Imee abandoned the KBL and joined the Nacionalista Party (NP) headed by Sen. Manuel Villar.

Sonza said Bongbong’s failure to show up at the KBL proclamation rally in Sta. Maria, Bulacan was a clear sign that he was left to campaign for himself.

“I never received a single centavo from the KBL but I carried on the fight believing that the grassroots members of the party would provide the necessary support,” he said.

Sonza said that the entry of KBL presidential bet Vetellano Acosta, who was later disqualified by the Comelec, was also a factor that contributed to the rapid decline of the once powerful party.

Millora, however, said that hardcore party members are still hoping that the Marcoses would come to the rescue.

Imelda has remained the titular chairman of the party and Bongbong the former president of the party.

Mrs. Marcos was even nominated as candidate of the KBL in the congressional race in Ilocos Norte.

Mrs. Marcos, who is running for congresswoman of the second district of Ilocos Norte, gubernatorial bet Imee Marcos, and comebacking former Ilocos Norte governor and congressman Rodolfo Fariñas, who is running for Congress in the first district, were proclaimed winners yesterday.

Rep. Bongbong Marcos, a senatorial candidate of the NP, is among the top 10 Senate contenders in the latest Comelec tally and is expected to win as a neophyte senator.

Mrs. Marcos won by a landslide over her opponent former Vice Gov. Mariano Nalupta (109,571 votes against Nalupta’s 27,359) in the second district, while Imee dethroned her first cousin re-electionist Gov. Michael Marcos Keon.

Meantime, lawyer Ricardo Abcede, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) commissioner handling asset management, said that with the political power of the Marcoses again riding high, working with them, instead of “engaging them in endless fights” is appearing to be the better and wiser course. – With Teddy Molina, Rainier Allan Ronda