The LP slate is one candidate short of complete, but the slot may be filled Thursday with Sen. Loren Legarda accepting an invitation from Mr. Aquino to a meeting in Malaca帽ang for talks about her running as a common candidate of both the Liberal Party and its rival, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
President Benigno Aquino鈥檚 senatorial candidates in next year鈥檚 midterm elections will enjoy support from politicians identified with his predecessor, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Mr. Aquino鈥檚 Liberal Party (LP) will conclude on Friday a partnership agreement with the National Unity Party (NUP) to build more support for the senatorial ticket it is forming together with the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People鈥檚 Coalition (NPC).
Composed mostly of former Arroyo allies, the NUP, a somewhat recycled Kampi, Arroyo鈥檚 own political vehicle, on Wednesday staged a show of force during its party convention at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel in Pasay City.
The gathering had unusual guests, Sen. Gregorio Honasan and Rep. Jose Victor Ejercito, who are both running聽 as UNA senatorial candidates.
The LP slate is one candidate short of complete, but the slot may be filled Thursday with Sen. Loren Legarda accepting an invitation from Mr. Aquino to a meeting in Malaca帽ang for talks about her running as a common candidate of both the Liberal Party and its rival, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
Malaca帽ang had been calling Legarda since Tuesday, but reached her only Wednesday. She was in Pangasinan inspecting her projects supporting corn production in 15 towns in the province.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reached Legarda as she was leaving Villasis town for a trip to Manaoag.
OK with Binay
Legarda said Vice President Jejomar Binay, who shares UNA鈥檚 leadership with former President Joseph Estrada, knew about her meeting with President Aquino and he approves of it.
The UNA announced on Monday that Legarda was one of its three common candidates with other parties. The two others are Sen. Francis Escudero and Grace Poe-Llamanzares, chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.
Legarda said her meeting with Mr. Aquino wouldn鈥檛 change things, that is, she would still be an UNA candidate even if she agreed to run with the LP.
She said that unlike the UNA, she had yet to meet with a top LP official even amid reports that she was being offered a slot on the LP slate.
鈥淣o one from the LP has talked to me yet,鈥� Legarda said. 鈥淭he President will be the first LP official I will talk to.鈥�
Room for a friend
Ejercito, a staunch critic of Arroyo, appealed for support from the gathering of more than 300 NUP members. 鈥淢aybe you have room for a friend,鈥� he told the group.
But Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, NUP president, said his party would back only the full senatorial slate of the administration, meaning the likes of Honasan and Ejercito would be excluded.
鈥淭hey are friends. They were invited to this convention on the basis of relationships,鈥� he said, referring to the two UNA candidates.
鈥淗owever, we are on a political mode and with the coalition partnership that will be signed on Friday, we are committed to support the entire lineup of the coalition with the Liberal Party, the NPC and the NP.鈥�
Antonino, however, did not rule out the possibility that some NUP members may support candidates other than those on the administration ticket.
鈥楤eyond politics鈥�
鈥淚ndividually, perhaps the party stand may not be 100 percent because there are relationships [between some NUP members and some candidates],鈥� he said.
Honasan said he showed up at the NUP gathering, also attended by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, 鈥渢o honor the invitation of personal friends,鈥� not necessarily to court support from the party.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter to me [even if the NUP won鈥檛 support me],鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is beyond politics.鈥�
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, an LP leader, said the NUP would bring to the coalition its 鈥減restige and influence.鈥�
The NUP, he said, 鈥渉as a lot of very strong people actually occupying positions in the provinces, in Congress.鈥�
The NUP membership includes more than 30 congressmen and 19 governors.
Don鈥檛 single out NUP
Antonino brushed aside a reported impression that the NUP and the administration were strange bedfellows.
He said the NUP was not the only party that has members previously identified with Arroyo but are now supporting Mr. Aquino.
鈥淚t is not fair to single out the NUP, because even in the LP itself鈥� you will see that there are members there [who] were once identified with the former President. And the same goes with the NPC, the same goes with the NP,鈥� he said.
LP president Manuel Roxas said on Tuesday that the party would announce its complete senatorial ticket later this week.
Two of the President鈥檚 allies, Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Director General Joel Villanueva have been dropped from the Liberal slate.
Already on the slate, besides Escudero and Llamanzares, are Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV, Aquilino Pimentel III, former Las Pi帽as Rep. Cynthia Villar, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, former Senators Jun Magsaysay and Jamby Madrigal, former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel and Bam Aquino. With a report from Michael Lim Ubac