LP coalition talks with 2 parties ‘successful’

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III confirmed Thursday the possible coalition of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) with Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and Nacionalista Party (NP) in next year’s senatorial race.

In an interview in an event in Pasay City, Aquino said ongoing talks with the two political parties have been “very, very successful.”

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“I think the talks were very, very successful,” he said.

However, he refused to give further details deferring the matter to Transportation Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, who is the president of LP.

“I will leave it up to our party president, Mar Roxas, to make the appropriate announcements,” he said.

NPC was founded by Aquino’s uncle, businessman and San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., the NP is chaired by Senator Manuel Villar Jr., who lost to Aquino during the 2010 presidential elections.

If the coalition is formed, NPC would reportedly have two to three slots in the senatorial ticket, two of which would be filled by Senators Francis Escudero and Loren Legarda.

Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian is rumored to get the third slot as his brother Rex is one of the NPC’s leaders in the House of Representative.

Also, three common candidates would reportedly come from NP, whose possible candidates include Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Villar’s wife, former Las Piñas City Representative Cynthia Villar.

NP reportedly wanted a fourth slot for former Surigao del Norte representative Robert Ace Barbers.

The rest of the senatorial slots will be filled up by the LP candidates.

Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat Jr., LP deputy spokesperson, said he would have preferred a coalition with Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“I think ideologically and historically, I would have preferred PDP-Laban coalition but given the 2016 presidential polls with Vice President Binay and Secretary Mar as presidentiables, that’s remote,” he said in a text message.

Baguilat was referring to the rivalry between Binay and Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II, who is also the ruling party’s president. Roxas has a pending electoral protest against Binay in connection with the 2010 national elections.

This early, Binay and Roxas are reportedly preparing for their second faceoff in the 2016 presidential elections.

Binay recently formed an alliance with former President Joseph Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino to form the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Baguilat, on the other hand, sees NP and NPC as “strange bedfellows.”

“NP and LP have a rivalry as old as this republic. NPC’s party platform is far from liberal democracy that we in LP abide with,” he said.

Baguilat also said that the coalition would have to work in fixing LP-NP-NPC rivalries at the local level.

Valenzuela City Representative Rex Gatchalian, spokesperson of the NPC, meanwhile, said that their party “always looks forward to being a coalition partner of parties (like the LP) that foster good governance and economic growth.” (Jill Beltran/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2012/07/05/lp-coalition-talks-2-parties-successful-230384
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