85 Lakas congressmen nominate GMA for 2004

A group of administration lawmakers has nominated President Arroyo as the ruling Lakas-CMD party’s standard bearer for the May 2004 elections, party officials said yesterday.

House Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzalez said that 85 congressmen have affixed their signatures to a letter urging the President to reconsider her decision not to seek a second term.

Gonzalez began the signature drive last Tuesday, the day after the Lakas national directorate held a major caucus. The last to sign was Leyte Rep. Carmen Cari.

Gonzalez said he had submitted the letter to Lakas national executive director Jose Ma. Rufino so it would be processed by the party’s executive council, which is tasked to draw up the list of candidates for the 2004 elections. Rufino is also Mrs. Arroyo’s adviser on political affairs.

"This is their nomination," Rufino told The STAR, adding that even some opposition congressmen have signed the manifesto.

He said the executive council will convene again to discuss this new development, but did not say when.

"The worst-case scenario is that the President will pressure the executive council not to name her (as standard-bearer)," Gonzalez said.

The senior lawmaker said he spearheaded the signature drive after other congressmen and some local officials prodded him to start the campaign since he is a Lakas stalwart.

Gonzalez said he has stopped gathering more signatures because he already made his point — that there is a genuine and growing clamor for Mrs. Arroyo to make a bid for the presidency.

"These trying times call for true leadership which you must continue to give. This generation of Filipinos has a rendezvous with destiny, please lead them to that destiny," the letter reads.

Rufino said copies of the letter will also be given to Mrs. Arroyo, who is Lakas national chairman; former President Fidel Ramos, Lakas chairman emeritus; Vice President Teofisto Guingona, party president; and House Speaker Jose de Venecia, national co-chairman.

The Lakas national directorate met Monday night and started mapping out the party’s plans for the 2004 elections, and also endorsed Charter amendments to shift the present form of government to a unicameral parliamentary system.

Rufino said it is not only in the House of Representatives that there are moves to urge Mrs. Arroyo to run in the 2004 elections. Some local elective officials who are part of the Leagues of Cities, Municipalities and Provinces have also initiated similar signature campaigns.

Meanwhile, the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) denied earlier reports that there is an existing majority among bishops endorsing Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy.

"The CBCP does not make political endorsements. There are personal preferences of members of the Church, (but they) vote according to their conscience, not as a body," CBCP spokesman Msgr. Hernando Coronel told reporters.

He was reacting to statements made by presidential adviser for ecclesiastical affairs Dodie Limcaoco that a majority of CBCP members support Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy for the 2004 elections.

"I do not have any idea where he got his statement," Coronel said. He added that during CBCP meetings, a variety of topics are discussed but do not touch on the President’s candidacy.

Earlier, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, through his spokesman Manila Auxiliary Bishop Socrates Villegas, denied reports that he is endorsing Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy although he is encouraging her to run in next year’s elections, along with other "honest" government leaders. — With Jose Aravilla