Danding re-registers as voter in Tarlac

TARLAC CITY — Businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr., who is expected to seek the presidency in next year’s election, has registered as a voter in his hometown of Paniqui, Tarlac.

Accompanied by his political supporters, Cojuangco appeared at the local registration center last Sunday to register after he was welcomed by 3,000 local residents in the nearby town of Concepcion.

It was in Paniqui that Cojuangco began his political career first as a councilor years before martial law was declared in 1972. He went on to become vice mayor and later governor.

He was appointed ambassador to the United States by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, with whom Cojuangco was closely associated.

Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda appeared with Cojuangco in Concepcion, fueling speculations that she is being groomed as Cojuangco’s vice presidential running mate.

Legarda, a member of the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, told the crowd "the country needs (Cojuangco)" because he "knows our problems and its solutions."

Cojuangco earlier said he will decide if he will make a second bid for the presidency next year "not later than the end of September."

The 70-year-old businessman, one of the country’s richest men, was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1992 presidential election.

He offered himself as a possible pro-business, free-market alternative to President Arroyo in the May polls.

Cojuangco said much of the country was now in a "crisis of survival" and a fresh approach is needed to end the "cynicism and apparent loss of spirit among many" of the 80 million Filipinos.

"The Philippines today no longer enjoys the luxury of time and we better look at this seriously and do our best in trying to turn around the economy," he told foreign businessmen’s groups last month.

"Money is not everything in life. What I would not want my grandchildren to hear is that no matter how successful I get to be as an entrepreneur or businessman, I am still a lousy Filipino because I turned my back on my country."

Mrs. Arroyo is widely expected to announce within three months her intention to seek a full six-year term.

Echoing Mrs. Arroyo’s free-market ideals, Cojuangco praised market liberalization moves that have opened up the economy since the late 1980s after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship.

Government "should encourage and promote business and investment by doing away with the roadblocks that have, for generations, stood in the way of Filipino venture and productivity," he said.

Cojuangco called on Mrs. Arroyo’s critics to refrain from calling for her resignation because the presidential election is just months away.

Should he eventually decide to run, Cojuangco said his main priorities would be to shrink the bureaucracy, amend the 1987 Constitution, and rein in the judiciary’s controversial rulings that hamper the investment climate.

The country’s form of government should be changed from presidential to parliamentary to eliminate legislative gridlock, but the shift should be made after the elections, he said.

Earlier, Cojuangco said he may make a second bid for the presidency if the opposition unites and fields only one candidate to prevent splitting the vote and increasing the chances of winning.

If Cojuangco runs for the opposition in the elections, he will first have to contest the nomination with Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

However, it is still unclear if Cojuangco will run — if at all — for the opposition or the administration.

Cojuangco’s party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), is part of President Arroyo’s political alliance, the People Power Coalition (PPC), of which Mrs. Arroyo’s Lakas is the dominant party.

Some Lakas members have pushed for Cojuangco’s candidacy but were chastised by the party leadership.

Lakas has yet to decide who to field in the elections after Mrs. Arroyo announced in December that she was withdrawing from the race to concentrate on revitalizing the country’s struggling economy.

Some leaders of the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino have endorsed San Miguel Corp. boss Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. as the party’s candidate in next year’s presidential election.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, president of the LDP, said the party’s Southern Luzon chapter believe Cojuangco is the "most qualified to lead the country out of its economic and political problems."