LDP to unveil 2004 senatorial slate within 10 days

Opposition leader Sen. Edgardo Angara said the other day the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) is now completing its entire slate — from the presidential tandem to the 12 senators — which will be announced within 10 days.

"Within 10 days, the complete ticket that will march to a landslide victory will be announced and this full slate will give Filipinos a reason to hope and have the full confidence to unite and rebuild their shattered country," Angara told a crowd attending the opposition "roadshow" public consultations in Legazpi City Friday.

Angara, the LDP president, also made public "an agenda for change and reform" which he said the opposition party has crafted to break the "vicious scourge of poverty and underdevelopment and move the country forward."

Without mentioning the personalities who will make up the opposition slate, Angara said they "will be the best men and women for this critical time in the country’s political history."

"They will have the ideal combination of leadership qualities, compassion, brilliance, competence, humanity and the intensity to reach out to the Filipinos to feel the depth of their pain and carry out a defined agenda for change and reform," he said.

Angara said the opposition slate will move to "correct the flaws in the socio-economic structures."

He said the opposition agenda will also include reviewing the provisions of the Constitution which Angara said "lives in a time warp and has hobbled efforts to stimulate the national economy."

Angara said the public consultations across the nation have all but confirmed that Filipinos are tired of the Arroyo administration "and six more years of (President) Arroyo in power would push the country to the brink of collapse."

"Corruption has been elevated to a level that is known only in banana republics. The nation is glued to sordid stories such as Jose Pidal. Everywhere, there is only desperation and hopelessness," he said.

Angara earlier said choices for the united opposition’s standard bearer include actor Fernando Poe Jr. and opposition Senators Panfilo Lacson, Gregorio Honasan and Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Angara also said the united opposition’s choice of a vice presidential candidate is open to all who have declared intent to run, regardless of party affiliations.

So far, no member of the opposition has expressed any intention of running for vice president.

On the senatorial slate, Angara has said re-electionist opposition Senators Teresa Aquino-Oreta, John Osmeña and Aquilino Pimentel will be given top priority in the united opposition’s slate.

The LDP leaders have arranged a one-on-one meeting between Poe and Lacson over who will be the united opposition’s standard bearer.