Reporma to field ‘Kabayan’

Broadcaster Noli "Kabayan" de Castro will be nominated for a slot in the majority coalition’s senatorial ticket by the Reporma party of Executive Secretary Renato de Villa, Sen. Raul Roco said yesterday.

Roco said De Castro and De Villa had a lengthy talk yesterday and an announcement on De Castro’s candidacy may be made today.

De Castro, among the leaders in senatorial surveys, was also nominated by the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino last Friday but he declined the nomination.

Roco said his party, the Aksyon Demokratiko, will make a soft launch for the senatorial candidacies of Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo and economist Solita Monsod.

Among the nominees to the administration ticket are re-electionist Senators Juan Flavier, Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Franklin Drilon.

Roco said the Senate balikbayans, Ernesto Herrera and Heherson Alvarez III, would also be there, and former Speaker Manuel Villar.

The candidacy of former Cebu Gov. Lito Osmeña, he said, still has to be finalized. But he said that Osmeña might decide to give the slot to Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto.

Francis Pangilinan of the Liberal Party is also a nominee. — Efren Danao