Biazon now with Roco’s party

While his Senate boss formally joined the Liberal Party, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said yesterday he has defected to Aksyon Demokratiko, the political group led by leading presidential hopeful, former education secretary Raul Roco.

Biazon made the decision a day after announcing that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) because he got fed up with the intramural of his party leaders.

Roco said Biazon will be included in their senatorial ticket with allied parties Reporma of former defense secretary Renato de Villa and Probinsiya Muna Development Initiatives (Promdi) of former Cebu governor Lito Osmeña.

Roco said he will formally announce his running mate and senatorial line-up in a party convention at the Manila Hotel tomorrow.

Biazon took a "leave of absence" from the LDP last Wednesday, citing intra-party differences of its leaders.

He said he will look for a political party "with less adversarial, confrontational and vindictive approach to governance."

The LDP is literally being split apart by supporters of Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Senators Edgardo Angara, party president, and Vicente Sotto III, who have been pushing for actor Fernando Poe Jr. as its standard-bearer.

LDP leaders and other opposition groups are now searching for a formula on how they can field only one common candidate. Both Poe and Lacson are potential winners, according to the latest survey, although the movie actor is ahead of Lacson.

Biazon, who had not changed political parties since joining the LDP, said he does not see any hope the two sides would iron out their differences.

He also criticized his former party for its "propensity to support popular candidates" and making elections a popularity contest.

Biazon said he decided to join Roco because Aksyon Demokratiko shares his advocacies and ideas.

Roco expressed elation over Biazon’s decision to join him and suppoßrt his presidential bid.

"Senator Biazon is a good candidate. Most of his advocacies complement ours," Roco said.

On his consistent ratings in the surveys, Roco said this only indicated that people have not forgotten him despite his being out of government service since he resigned as education secretary in August last year.

"I’m not in government office, I have no television program and I had media exposure only once in a while but I was able to sustain (my popularity). We’re still ahead of anybody and that can’t be discounted," he said. — Jess Diaz, Sheila Crisostomo