Movement urging Supreme Court chief to run for president launched

MANILA, Philippines – A so-called moral force composed of youth, students and workers launched yesterday the Peace, Unity and New Order (PUNO) Movement which seeks to compel Chief Justice Reynato Puno to run for president in the May 2010 elections.

In a press conference, leaders of the PUNO Movement said the country needs a kind of leader with the character, moral and ethical, values, competence and vision that will inspire and rally the people to work together with the government to achieve the common good – a God-fearing, peaceful, united and prosperous nation.

“Our nation is at a crossroads now. The state of affairs in our country has reached a point in which important changes and major decisions must be made,” said Angel Dimalanta, president of the 74,000-strong Philippine Automotive Transport Alliance and one of the convenors of the PUNO Movement.

The group said Puno is not the usual “traditional politician (trapo)” and has “never tainted any position he held in the government.” It said the Supreme Court got the highest approval rating under Puno’s leadership.

The group reportedly has more than 100,000 members nationwide and told media that many more are joining them in the belief that Puno can make the country “proud once again.”

‘Logical choice’

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando Jr. may be the “logical” choice to be the ruling coalition’s standard-bearer for the 2010 elections, but he is not necessarily a winnable one, an administration official said yesterday.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III, an official of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, however stressed that Fernando is still among those being considered by the administration to be its presidential candidate and that his tantrums were understandable.

Fernando, also a Lakas official, earlier slammed what he called favoritism among party leaders for possible presidential candidates who are not members of the ruling party, apparently referring to Vice President Noli de Castro and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

De Castro and Teodoro attended the merger ceremonies of Lakas-CMD and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) last month upon invitation of the two parties to allow party members to scrutinize them. Fernando did not attend the event.

Reports said Fernando pointed out that Lakas-Kampi-CMD is morally bound to select him as standard-bearer.

Bello said the MMDA chief’s statement has basis as he is an “original” Lakas-CMD member.

“Secretary Fernando is a homegrown (party member) who has openly announced his desire to be president. If you follow logic – and logic only – then he’s the logical choice,” Bello told a news briefing. — Nestor Etolle, Paolo Romero