MANILA, Philippines — The opposition was in a flux Thursday.
Two reform-minded presidential aspirants—Governors Ed Panlilio of Pampanga and Grace Padaca of Isabela—have decided to withdraw from the May elections and support Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the Philippine Daily Inquirer learned Thursday.
They are scheduled to announce on Friday their decision “for the sake of unity” after Sen. Mar Roxas, the Liberal Party president, decided on Tuesday to step aside in favor of Aquino, who has gone on a spiritual retreat to seek “divine guidance” and ponder his next move.
But evangelist Eddie Villanueva, leader of the Jesus is Lord Movement and the political party Bangon Pilipinas, said in a statement Thursday that he was pursuing his presidential plans.
“The only way to achieve Bangon Pilipinas’ vision of a new Philippines and platform of righteous governance is to stay in the race,” said Villanueva, who was nominated his party’s standard-bearer on Aug. 21.
“A bigger and more crucial question confronting the entire nation ... is whether we are willing to change, to go back to God’s values,” said Villanueva, who is making his second bid for the highest post in the land.
The Nacionalista Party has likewise announced that its standard-bearer, Sen. Manny Villar, who has been leading in recent popularity surveys of a dozen presidential aspirants, was proceeding with his political plans.
Former President Joseph Estrada has said he is prepared to abandon his own bid if the opposition could rally behind a common candidate, drawing rebuke from his erstwhile police chief turned political gadfly, Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
“It’s not good to say that ‘I will withdraw if all the others will withdraw as well,’” said Lacson, who called Estrada a “segurista”—someone who makes sure everything goes according to plan.
“If you present yourself as a leader, then you should take the first step for a unification move,” Lacson said.
Retorted Estrada: “I’m not going to get unsolicited advice from anyone, especially from the person who caused the opposition disunity and defeat in the 2004 elections.”
The ousted President, who was convicted of plunder and subsequently pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was referring to Lacson’s disastrous presidential bid.
Green recipe for unity
Jesus Nicanor “Nicky” Perlas III, an environmentalist who also has announced plans to contest the presidency, said Thursday he wasn’t about to support Aquino.
“What the reformists support is for Noynoy to step out of LP, join a large process involving nontraditional parties and movements into setting a future direction and leadership of this movement for nontraditional politics,” he said.
“If Aquino tops the process, then it’s possible we will support him,” Perlas said.
“Noynoy is a very interesting mix. It’s difficult to characterize him. I don’t think he’s corrupt. I think he’s honest. On the other hand, he has not demonstrated leadership. His track record is not so clear, where he stands on a range of issues, which is not his fault because he never intended to run.”
Panlilio and Padaca are scheduled to formally announce their support for Aquino at Club Filipino on Friday, according to the source close to the governors.
They will be joined by Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo of the Liberal Party, who will also add his voice to those supporting Aquino, son of the late President Corazon C. Aquino and assassinated Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.
For ethical leadership
Panlilio, Padaca and Robredo are the founding members of the Kaya Natin! movement toward good governance and ethical leadership, and it is in the spirit of putting a reform candidate in Malacañang that moved them to support Aquino, according to the source.
Robredo said that he, Padaca and Panlilio were now considering other options, including running for the Senate or seeking reelection.
Panlilio, a Catholic priest, is a first-term governor of Pampanga while former broadcaster Padaca, who famously ended the Dy family’s stranglehold on Isabela politics, is on her second term.
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, president of the United Opposition, Thursday offered to negotiate with leaders of the various opposition groups so they could come up with a common candidate. He said he would start talking to Estrada and Aquino.
Binay said that Aquino’s emergence as “a probable presidential candidate of the Liberal Party could result in political realignments and a likely coalition with the ranks of the opposition parties.”
Binay was a little-known lawyer and street demonstrator before he was named mayor of Makati by Corazon Aquino after the 1986 People Power Revolution.
Corazon Aquino’s death from cancer on Aug. 1 has sparked an outpouring of sympathy that supporters of her 49-year-old bachelor son hope to transform into votes in the upcoming balloting.
Only God knows outcome
Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. said that the country’s return to a two-party system was possible if the opposition would unite against the administration.
“Whether that will come about, only God knows. But what is important is that there are moves toward unification,” he said.
De Venecia said that Aquino should sit down with Estrada and other potential presidential candidates to discuss how the opposition could unify.
Aquino’s father was assassinated in 1983 on his return from three years of self-exile in the United States to rally the fractured opposition against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Moral force coalition
In Cabanatuan City, supporters of Chief Justice Reynato Puno in Nueva Ecija Thursday launched a campaign to draft him as a presidential candidate of the Moral Force Coalition Movement.
“We believe that Chief Justice Puno has all the qualities of a good leader that can bring back the values of the morality and ethics in our government,” said Leila Abarientos, presiding chair of the Novo Ecijanos Moral Force Coalition Movement.
At least 50 core members of the movement signed a manifesto promising support for Puno “for the sake of a much-needed change.”
They also started accepting P5 contributions to bankroll the campaign. Reports from Tina Arceo-Dumlao, TJ Burgonio, Michael Lim Ubac, Kristine L. Alave, Dona Z. Pazzibugan and Allison W. Lopez; Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Anselmo Roque and Carmela Reyes, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon
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