De Castro may contend in 2010

Vice-President said he can serve the country if given a ‘longer term’

By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Manila Times Reporter

VICE-President Noli de Castro strongly hinted on Sunday of his intentions to drop his hat into the 2010 presidential race, stating that he can still serve the country better on a longer term.

In a statement, de Castro said that there are still more and bigger things that he can still do.

“In my three years of serving as Vice-President, I’ve identified the leading problems of the country and those that need to be solved for the welfare of our people,” de Castro said.

However, de Castro said that it is not yet the time for him to make a categorical statement if he will run or not in the 2010 elections.

“If I declare my intention to run as president, I expect that it would be hard for me to fully perform my duties. I expect that some political sectors would put political color on all my goals and civic activities,” said de Castro.

De Castro made the statement after Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said that the vice-president is the most formidable foe the opposition can face.

Talks about possible contenders for the country’s top post in 2010 have been going around recently, with Senate President Manuel Villar, Senators Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd, Loren Legarda and Panfilo Lacson among the names being dropped.

Other presidential aspirants are Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

Talks about contenders for the 2010 presidential elections became loud after former President Joseph Estrada undertook various medical missions in remote areas in Metro Manila in what critics see as a move to win back his popularity in preparation for another run for the Palace in 2010.

United opposition wants caution

Meanwhile, United Opposition (UNO) president and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay over the weekend cautioned presidential aspirants of the 2010 elections, saying that talks and speculations at this point are premature. He added that political parties should instead focus their energy on pressing problems.

“Every one of us should bear in mind that notwithstanding all the noise there are still many problems that has yet to be resolved. The focus should be on how to solve the country’s problems such as poverty, crime incidence, peace and order problem, human rights violation among others,” Binay said.

Binay is being touted upon as the opposition’s standard-bearer in the 2010 election.

The UNO president added that while there’s nothing wrong in political parties and figures to “sound-off” their plans for the 2010 presidential election, the opposition will continue its role as a fiscalizer and will not stop being a critic of the present administration.
-- With James Konstantin Galvez

Senators: electoral reforms before politicking

By Efren L. Danao, Manila Times Senior Reporter

Senator Richard Gordon said Saturday that the nation should focus on electoral reforms before discussing potential contenders for the presidency in 2010.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, on the other hand, said that focus should be on who would be appointed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda said that talks about 2010 are premature and serve as distraction to the solution of pressing problems like the spiraling oil prices and poverty.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, said that the country should concentrate on electoral reforms to avoid electoral fraud in the upcoming August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and eventually in the presidential elections in May 2010.

“If the country has to change, [the electoral system] has to be reformed. This will be a good test if Filipinos have already acquired the moral backbone. If not, we will be like Haiti or Kenya or Pakistan, if we ever allow a convicted highest official to govern again,” he said.

He added that these reforms should start with President Gloria Arroyo showing transparency in the selection of the next chairman and commissioners of the Comelec.

“If there is transparency, people will have less doubt about the appointees and in the Comelec,” added Gordon, who has been pushing for automated elections to eliminate fraud since 2000.

Three vacancies in the Comelec are to be filled up in February with the resignation of Chairman Benjamin Abalos, and the retirement of Commissioners Resureccion Borra and Florentino Tuason on February 2.

Pangilinan echoed Gordon’s sentiments on the significance of the Comelec appointments.

“Political parties and their leaders must focus on ensuring that the Comelec appointees to be appointed in a few weeks’ time are men and women with integrity and capacity. Without an independent and [corruption]-free Comelec, all this talk about 2010 is a waste of time,” he said.

He noted that the search committee had reported that 56 names were being considered for the Comelec positions.

“We urge the search committee to make public the list of these nominees and to invite the public to submit position papers for or against these nominees. The list should be made public before it is culled or shortlisted,” he said.

Meanwhile, Legarda said that while there is nothing wrong for political parties to “sound off” and prepare for 2010, they may prove to be more of a distraction to the nation already beset with pressing problems like poverty and the spiraling prices of oil products.

She said that the political landscape could still change before the 2010 elections, but the pressing problems are already here and now.

“Based on my experience in the past three elections, line-ups are usually formed just months ahead of the election so, the pronouncements we are hearing at present may be just to test the waters,” Legarda added.

De Castro is best bet of administration

By Norman Bordadora - Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines--The opposition views Vice President Noli De Castro as the “most formidable” contender that the administration can field in the 2010 presidential election.

But even De Castro will be no match for anyone in the opposition’s crop of “presidentiables,” according to Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and lawyer Adel Tamano, both opposition stalwarts.

Rodriguez, former spokesperson of deposed President Joseph Estrada, the recognized leader of the opposition, made the fearless forecast at yesterday’s Kapihan sa Sulo news forum, saying: “We believe that our crop of ‘presidentiables’ can do better. As long as the opposition is not divided four or five ways, we will win.”

Tamano, the spokesperson of the United Opposition, agreed that De Castro was the strongest candidate that the administration could put up against the likes of Senate President Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP), Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II of the Liberal Party (LP), and Senators Loren Legarda and Panfilo Lacson.

“But he has the same built-in weakness in that he is with the administration,” Tamano pointed out.

Declared Rodriguez: “Vice President De Castro is the most formidable.

“But he is ‘beatable’ by a strong opposition. He is identified with the administration, and the administration trust rating is very low.”

The administration coalition, led by the Lakas-CMD, is reportedly looking to choose its standard-bearer in 2010 from among De Castro, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte.

Administration Sen. Richard Gordon is said to be also considering a run for the presidency.

Lakas executive director Ray Roquero yesterday told the Inquirer by phone that the ruling party might “adopt” De Castro.

But Roquero added that De Castro had to surmount obstacles within Lakas in the persons of Fernando and Belmonte.

De Castro and Gordon, despite having proved an ability to win an elective post on the national level, are outside the fold of Lakas.

Fernando and Belmonte are Lakas members, but neither has mounted a nationwide electoral campaign.

Another administration stalwart reportedly being considered for a run for the presidency is Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Of the lot, only Fernando has categorically declared himself available for nomination as Lakas standard-bearer.

“Yes, I want to run,” he told the Inquirer on Friday. “You can’t be too coy about this. You have to let people know what you want.”

Liability

Tamano said that for many qualified senatorial candidates in the 2007 midterm elections, their affiliation with the administration coalition proved to be a liability.

“Team Unity had many good candidates who lost because of the badge that they are part of the administration ticket,” he said.

But despite the opposition’s declared winning stance, Tamano cautioned its stalwarts against dwelling too much on 2010.

“Let us not be too arrogant ... [If we don’t come to an understanding] we may very well lose,” he said.

Tamano also appealed to members of the opposition “to lower the political noise.”

“It’s too early [for it],” he said, adding:

“The people want the opposition to address the country’s problems ... Don’t forget why the people voted for the opposition in the first place.”

The opposition fielded 11 candidates and won seven of 12 seats in the 2007 elections.

The 12th opposition candidate would have been the LP’s Sen. Francis Pangilinan, but he chose to run an independent campaign.

Estrada had earlier said he wanted the opposition to field a common presidential candidate in order to avoid a repeat of the 2004 polls when the opposition’s votes were split between his best friend, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., and Lacson.

He had said that he might run himself if the opposition forces failed to come together.

Loyalty

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Lakas secretary general, explained De Castro’s apparent edge over other presidential aspirants allied with Malacañang:

“One of the factors that seem to be on Noli’s side is his loyalty to the administration in the last five years. That [partly] explains why some members of the party are pushing for his endorsement.”

Zubiri said De Castro had proven his capacity to assist in the implementation of the administration’s programs, especially in the housing sector.

De Castro, an independent candidate, was President Macapagal-Arroyo’s running mate in the 2004 polls under the administration coalition, K-4.

On Friday, Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said his personal opinion was that De Castro would be the administration’s best bet for 2010.

Coalition-building

Also on Friday, Zubiri said Lakas would kick off the selection process for its standard-bearer for 2010 in a two-day national directorate meeting to be held in Manila in the third week of January.

He said Ms Arroyo herself had requested that Lakas “start the process.”

Yesterday, Zubiri told the Inquirer that both the NP and the NPC had actively been courting Lakas’ support.

He said the “possible” presidential contenders were Belmonte, Fernando and De Castro, but quickly added:

“Even Manny (Villar of the NP) and Loren (Legarda of the NPC) have spoken to me personally on a possible coalition”

But the Legarda camp was quick to deny this.

Said Zubiri: “As of now, there is a large field [of presidential aspirants] for Lakas to choose from.”

He said that “although not very high in the surveys,” Belmonte and Fernando were “respected in terms of performance.”

He also said he gave the NP and NPC “suggestions on how to proceed with a possible coalition partnership between our party and their party.”

According to Zubiri, what is important in coalition-building is “our ideologies as political parties are in sync with each other.”

“Among the political parties today in the Philippines, we are similar in ideology with the NP as well as the NPC. So that’s Loren and Manny,” he said.

He added that Lakas’ political ideology was centrist: “We are not Right or Left. We are similar in ideology to the political parties of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, and in Asia, the Golkar party of Indonesia.”

‘Defending champion’

Roquero pointed out that the forthcoming Lakas meeting was for “strategic planning,” and that there was no rush to name a standard-bearer.

As the party with the largest machinery, “we should be the last one to declare our candidate,” he said.

Roquero said Lakas members and possible election coalition partners should proceed from this basic assumption.

“We are the defending, reigning champion. We won back-to-back [in the 2004 polls],” he said.

“As the dominant majority party, we will be the one to choose. They should go through a process. All others are miniscule parties. They simply want to attract new members, so they float names.”

But Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles, Lakas’ regional vice president for Mindanao, hinted that the party could merge with other parties with strong presidential contenders to survive 2010.

“I think Lakas right now is very fluid, and anything is possible at this point,” said Nograles.

He said Lakas and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, Ms Arroyo’s party, “must get its act together as soon as possible.”

“Too early to tell [if Lakas will remain intact]. We all must talk to our allies first, so that we can emerge strong,” he said.

With reports from Michael Lim Ubac and Dona Z. Pazzibugan