All-parties political summit set in April

Speaker Jose de Venecia, national chairman of Lakas-NUCD, and Sen. Edgardo Angara, national president of Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, have agreed to hold an all-parties political summit in April to reduce political tensions and make parties more responsive to the times.

De Venecia and Angara jointly announced this major development the other day during a forum at De La Salle University in Manila, attended by economics students and professors from 10 universities.

De Venecia said President Arroyo welcomed the holding of the political summit. It will be a sequel to the socioeconomic summit held last April and initiated by Sen. Blas Ople and other opposition leaders. Ople had endorsed the political summit "to remove the political poison in the atmosphere."

De Venecia and Angara will confer later this week to formalize preparations for the April summit. Angara has designated his party leaders in the House, Minority Leader Carlos Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya and Enrique Garcia of Bataan, to work out initial preparations for the summit.

A day before the La Salle forum, De Venecia addressed the Rotary Club of Manila where he explained the agenda of the political summit. Former Senate Secretary Edgardo Tumangan, the Rotary Club president, said De Venecia’s speech drew a standing ovation, "the first time in a long time that the Rotary gave such a reception."

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., national chairman of the PDP-Laban, also expressed full support for the political summit.

Pimentel said that the agreement reached during the socio-economic summit could not be carried out without a popular political consensus.

De Venecia said the summit could formulate a multi-partisan strategy and mobilize all political parties to achieve meaningful economic and structural reforms to push the Philippines into the league of Southeast Asia’s economic tigers.

De Venecia and Angara agreed that the proposed political summit should not only be between Lakas and Laban, the two biggest political parties in the country today. They are eyeing all political parties to participate in the top-level political meeting.

Those being eyed to attend the summit are the Nationalist People’s Coalition headed by industrialist Eduardo Cojuangco, the Liberal Party under Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Batanes Rep. Florencio Abad, the Nacionalista Party of former Vice President Salvador Laurel and Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzales, Aksyon Demokratiko of Education Secretary Raul Roco, Reporma of former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan under Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos, Social Democrats, Bayan Muna, Apec, Cibac and other smaller parties. — Efren Danao, Jess Diaz