'Lakas-CMD still has machinery to face LP in 2013 polls'

MANILA, Philippines - The Lakas-Christian and Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) expressed confidence that it still has the machinery to face the ruling Liberal Party (LP) in the 2013 senatorial elections, a party official said yesterday.

House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, who is vice chairman of Lakas-CMD, said the party will hold a national council of leaders meeting on Friday to map out strategy for the coming polls.

“We still have the most number of elected officials, down to the local level, all over the country next to the LP,” Suarez said. “Lakas-CMD still maintains a command vote of around two million.”

He said the votes that the Lakas-CMD machinery can deliver could elect senators, especially in the eighth to 12th slots where the differences are only in the tens of thousands or less.

Unlike the LP, which is trying to forge an alliance with the Nacionalista Party and the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Lakas-CMD is not likely to merge with other parties.

Lakas-CMD could, however, forge “unwritten partnerships” and support senatorial candidates from other parties.

Suarez noted that Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, who belongs to Lakas-CMD, is being adopted by the United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada.

Suarez added that former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is chairman emeritus of the party, already gave instructions that the party would give full support to its candidates.