Palace says Noli will not give way to Roco

A senior presidential aide dismissed yesterday as "mere speculation" supposed moves by the Liberal Party (LP) to bring about a "unity" ticket with former education secretary Raul Roco running as vice president under President Arroyo.

Presidential Legislative Liaison Office chief Secretary Gabriel Claudio brushed aside reports that Roco would be substituted for Sen. Noli de Castro in the slate of the Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukukasan (K-4).

"That’s a mere speculation," Claudio told The STAR even as he welcomed LP efforts to strengthen unity in the newly formed K-4 coalition composed of the LP, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) and the People’s Reform Party of senatorial candidate Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

"Things are looking awfully good," Claudio added. "We’re going to win while the opposition is collapsing."

But Claudio noted that the entire K-4 slate has been completely filled and the entire ticket is already prepared to launch its campaign on Feb. 10, the beginning of the official campaign period.

"There are many ways to reinforce the unity that LP and Lakas forged under K-4. It may or may not be in the form of a unity ticket," Claudio said.

But LP chairman and Senate President Franklin Drilon insisted that leaders of the coalition are still pushing for the unification "without any precondition" of the K-4 ticket and the ticket of Roco’s Alliance for Hope coalition.

The Alliance for Hope consists of Roco’s Aksiyon Demokratiko party, the Reporma Party of former defense secretary Renato de Villa and the Probinsiya Muna Development Initiative of former Cebu governor Lito Osmena.

All three parties used to be members of the People’s Power Coalition (PPC) that had backed Mrs. Arroyo through the first 18 months of her administration.

"We’re not giving up," Drilon told The STAR, adding that a continuing "series of meetings" is underway but he refused to elaborate.

"We have not set any terms of reference. It’s just to continue with the dialogues... There’s no pre-conditions on a unity ticket. We leave the terms to them but they should not close the doors," Drilon said.

Drilon revealed that some "civil society" leaders whom he refused to identify are also involved in the ongoing dialogues.

The Senate president stressed that the ongoing dialogues are being held "without any precondition," such as Roco’s agreeing to run for vice president or Mrs. Arroyo’s withdrawal from the presidential race.

Reports that the K-4 leadership is considering substituting Roco for De Castro arose after Mrs. Arroyo announced on Thursday that she was open to a reconciliation with Roco.

"You know I really want reconciliation with all as much as possible," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Roco himself confirmed on Friday that he had a private one-on-one meeting with Mrs. Arroyo on Christmas Eve somewhere in Quezon City and that he gave the President a letter urging her to back out of the presidential race.

But that meeting was six days before De Castro announced his acceptance of the administration’s draft for him to run for vice president under the administration ticket.

LP leaders have confirmed that up to Jan. 5, the deadline for the registration of candidacies, coalition leaders were "heatedly debating" whether to support De Castro as vice president or insist on a unity ticket that would supposedly include Roco.