LP, NP to pursue ‘third force’

The Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party are bent on forming a "third or middle force" senatorial ticket separate from the slate of the United Opposition (UNO), Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III said yesterday.

"LP and NP leaders want a ticket dominated by LP and NP candidates, not by UNO nominees. They feel that the team should not be identified with Erap," he said, referring to ousted President Joseph Estrada.

LP is led by Sen. Franklin Drilon, while Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. heads the NP. The two parties have forged an alliance to field a common senatorial ticket.

Tañada said the two political groups are open to a coalition ticket with UNO, provided that the slate is dominated by LP and NP candidates and other aspirants critical of the Arroyo administration.

"The important thing is that the team is not associated with Erap. Our parties, the LP in particular, have been critics of the administration but have not been Erap supporters," he stressed.

Tañada said that if a three-party coalition ticket is formed, each political group could have four candidates or could share 10 slots and leave two for other senatorial aspirants identified with the opposition.

He said on LP’s part, its nominees would be Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and former education secretary Florencio Abad.

NP’s nominees would be Villar, Senators Ralph Recto and Joker Arroyo, and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, he said.

"We can invite Sen. Ping (Panfilo) Lacson or Mrs. Sonia Roco of Aksyon Demokratiko," he added.

Lacson is part of the UNO ticket. Other UNO nominees are former Senators Loren Legarda and John Osmeña, Estrada’s son Joseph Victor Ejercito, who is mayor of San Juan town in Metro Manila, Cayetano, Aquino, Aquilino Pimentel III, and House Minority Leader Francis Escudero.

UNO reserved the remaining four slots for Villar, Recto, Pangilinan, and Arroyo, who won in 2001 under the administration ticket.

The UNO slate, like the ticket the LP-NP tandem envisions, according to Tañada, is a coalition team since Cayetano belongs to Villar’s NP, Aquino to Drilon’s LP, Pimentel to PDP-Laban, the party founded by his father, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and Escudero to the largely pro-administration Nationalist People’s Coalition.

The so-called unity ticket that the administration is trying to put together will not be much different. Besides Arroyo loyalists, it will include personalities who recently jumped from the Estrada camp to the administration side. — Jess Diaz