Barbers: Opposition has no winnable bet

The opposition has no winnable presidential candidate against President Arroyo, Sen. Robert Barbers asserted yesterday, as he laughed off opposition claims that anybody could beat the President in 2004.

"The opposition can field anybody they want to become their standard bearer in the 2004 presidential elections but not even their strongest candidate can beat the President!" Barbers said.

Earlier, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a probable opposition candidate for president, said that the opposition need not field movie star Fernando Poe Jr. as anybody from the opposition could easily win against the President.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, president of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, has also been tagged as among the strongest presidential candidate from the opposition ranks.

"The opposition might be hallucinating. They should examine first how they fared in the last elections in spite of their resources," Barbers said.

The opposition slate won five of the 13 Senate seats at stake in the 2001 elections but one of the five, Sen. Noli de Castro who ran as an independent, later joined the administration coalition. The administration coalition also scored an overwhelming victory in the congressional and local elections.

Barbers said that some people keep on floating the name of Poe who has denied several times ever thinking of running for public office.

He said that the opposition betrayed their difficulty in finding a winnable candidate against President Arroyo by floating the name of Fernando Poe Jr.

He said that among the opposition members, Senators Edgardo Angara and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. are the ones who are credible and capable of speaking about and forecasting their party’s political fate.

"But it might not yet be the right time for either Angara or Pimentel to run for the presidency as President Arroyo is still eligible to run for election," he said.

He contended that not even the two veteran lawmakers are understating the credibility and capabilities of the President.

"There is no strong presidential candidate from other political parties that will give trouble to us in the administration," Barbers said. – Efren Danao