Estrada’s ‘Bright Boys’ also shine in polls

Like the Lakas Party’s "Spice Boys," ousted President Joseph Estrada’s "Bright Boys" did well in the May 14 elections.

The "Bright Boys" is a group of young former ruling party congressmen who supported the disgraced leader. It was formed as a counterpart to the then opposition’s Spice Boys.

Members of the two opposing groups tangled in various television and radio talk shows before and during Estrada’s impeachment trial.

"You are ignoring us, but our members also won landslide victories in their respective districts," Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III complained to reporters yesterday.

"Yung mga Spice Boys lang ang nakikita ninyo (You only notice the Spice Boys)," he said.

He said Bright Boys members Juan Pablo Bondoc, Ace Durano and Jesus Jurdin Romualdo were unopposed in their districts in Pampanga, Cebu City and Camiguin, respectively, while Tarlac’s Gilbert Teodoro and Sorsogon’s Francis Escudero won overwhelmingly over their opponents.

"But we lost our elders, Manong Rudy (Rodolfo Fariñas) of Ilocos Norte and Roy Padilla of Camarines Norte," he added.

The group’s members ran under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the party founded and funded by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., a friend of Estrada.

Albano, a first-term congressman, did not seek re-election because he gave way to his father, former Majority Leader Rodolfo Albano, who has been proclaimed as the newly elected representative of the first district of Isabela.

The young Albano, however, still hopes to sit in the House as NPC representative in case his party wins in the party-list election. As of the latest count, NPC is in the top 10 list of winning party-list organizations.

The Isabela congressman said his party has about 70 members who have been proclaimed winners in their respective congressional districts or leading over their opponents.

"We estimate that we will win at least 70 seats. We plan to forge an alliance with other parties, including the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), and gun for the speakership," he said.

The NPC candidate for speaker is Teodoro, who chairs the NPC executive committee and who is the favorite nephew of Cojuangco.

LDP and NPC will be natural allies. The former is led by opposition senatorial candidate and former Estrada Executive Secretary Edgardo Angara. Its secretary general is Rep. Agapito Aquino of Makati City.

The Angara party has more than 20 remaining congressman-members. A big group led by Deputy Speaker Carlos Padilla, who won his third term by a landslide in Nueva Vizcaya, had broken away during the impeachment process and supported Estrada’s ouster.

Padilla’s group is now allied with the ruling People Power Coalition (PPC), which groups several pro-administration parties. The biggest of these parties, Lakas, is fielding former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for the speakership.

Padilla has also declared his bid for the fourth highest position in the land.