Ping-Poe unity meet set in April

Sen. Panfilo Lacson and actor Fernando Poe Jr. are set to meet next month to unite the opposition and discuss who between them should be the standard-bearer on May 10.

Speaking to reporters while on the campaign trail in Tondo, Manila yesterday, Lacson said he and Poe have agreed to hold their unity talks in April.

"What we see here is that when the opposition unites, the fight in the election is over," Lacson said.

He acknowledged the disadvantage of splitting opposition votes in May.

Lacson said he would leave it to the people to choose who between him and Poe should become the country’s next president.

"There is a need to unify the opposition simply because in all the places that we have been to, there is a clear clamor for a united opposition," he said.

Lacson also clarified that the Nacionalista Party headed by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. has not made any commitment to adopt him as its presidential candidate.

"Senator Villar and his wife, Congresswoman Cynthia Villar, have not made any commitment yet," Lacson said.

"The Nacionalista Party is one of the oldest parties in the Philippines, and any endorsement from such a prestigious organization... would surely add to the vigor of the campaign," he added.

Lacson said like Poe, he has a lot of supporters from the masses in Tondo, which is said to be Poe’s bailiwick.

"I don’t say that Tondo is FPJ’s country," he said. "This is Lacson’s country as well. It is not aptly correct to say that Tondo is FPJ country because Tondo is an opposition country."

Lacson was welcomed by residents as he walked the stretch of Del Pan, Asuncion and Moriones streets toward Juan Luna street, all in Tondo.

Lacson was supposed to hold a motorcade in Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela) yesterday, but it was canceled because of his scheduled sorties in the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija, known bailiwicks of his lone senatorial candidate, House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla.

Meanwhile, Lacson said he had revealed that President Arroyo was giving out P10 million from "ghost deliveries of medicines and fertilizers" to each pro-administration congressman and mayor to warn the Chief Executive that she and the suppliers could face plunder charges.

"I brought it... to the attention of the voters to preempt and as a warning, not only to the occupants of Malacañang, but also to the suppliers who are willing to cooperate, (and) to the recipient mayors and congressmen," he said.

On the other hand, Deputy Speaker for the Visayas Raul Gonzalez said Lacson does not have the moral authority "to posture as a graft buster" because he is facing criminal charges for graft and murder.

"Once again Senator Lacson has gleefully embarked on a negative campaign of character assassination through unfounded accusations," he said in a statement.

"This is a hallmark — to throw mud at his enemies, and if the witnesses against him in the Kuratong Baleleng murder case are to be believed, to do what is necessary for him to come out on top."

Gonzalez said Lacson must explain the official reports prepared by US law enforcement agencies detailing his alleged hidden bank accounts and properties in the US, stretching back to his stint as chief of the Philippine National Police.

"Senator Lacson has no moral authority to comment on the peso-dollar rate, let alone challenge the President to debate on this issue," he said.

"If the official reports from the US government are true, he should actually be thankful because the American investments have increased in value because of the rise in the peso-dollar rate."

Gonzalez said the US Justice Department report shows that Lacson opened several bank accounts in his name at the Bank of America branch in Chula Vista, California, which in October 2000, had a balance of $285,133.

Lacson has yet to disprove official documents from the US Attorney General detailing six of his alleged accounts in American banks worth $1.1 million between 1996 and 2001, Gonzalez added. — Jose Rodel Clapano