Lapus, JDV wife to run in 2010

MANILA, Philippines - Education Secretary Jesli Lapus is throwing his hat in the ring for the Senate race while Gina de Venecia, wife of former House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., announced her plans to run in the congressional district of her husband in Pangasinan in the May 2010 elections.

Lapus intimated to The STAR his desire to run for the Senate under the administration coalition ticket. Lapus belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) whose titular head is Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., president and chief executive officer of San Miguel Corp.

Lapus admitted he would be facing a tough fight, as there will be nine re-electionist senators and three come-backing senators who have indicated their plans to run again for the Senate in the next year’s elections.

Before he joined the Arroyo Cabinet in July 2006, Lapus was on his third and last term as congressman from Tarlac. He, along with Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. (Tarlac) and Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano (Cebu), are the three former congressmen from NPC in the Arroyo Cabinet.

Teodoro has previously declared his desire to vie for the nomination as the presidential standard-bearer of the administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition in the 2010 elections.

Durano, on the other hand, said he has not made up his mind yet. For one, he said, the NPC has not decided yet whether to field their own presidential candidate or coalesce anew with the Arroyo administration like they did during the May 2004 elections.

He admitted, however, that NPC has already sounded him out to run for the Senate.

“But we still have until November this year to decide,” Durano said.

In a formal statement sent to The STAR yesterday, Mrs. De Venecia declared her intentions to run in the 4^th congressional district in Pangasinan and take over from her husband, who is on his third and last term in office.

Deposed President Joseph Estrada had offered her a slot in the opposition’s 12-man senatorial ticket for next year’s elections.

She finally decided to run instead for Congress after a consultation meeting last June 7 with barangay captains and the mayors of Dagupan City, Manaoag, San Fabian, San Jacinto and Mangaldan which are in her district.

“They are all unanimous in choosing me as their next representative in Congress, to continue the excellent programs of my husband,” Mrs. De Venecia said.

Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes is contemplating to try his luck in the mayoral contest next year. Reyes earlier said he might run in Taguig City where retired Supreme Court justice Dante Tinga is also reportedly planning to run in next year’s mayoral contest.

Also, presidential adviser on the peace process, retired police general Avelino Razon, is reportedly mulling his intentions to run for mayor in the city of Manila.

Razon’s possible mayoral bid might be challenged by a fellow Cabinet member, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. Atienza, three-term Manila mayor before he was recruited last year to join the Cabinet, is reportedly eyeing a comeback at City Hall.

As this developed, Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto ended yesterday speculations that his wife, actress-turned politician Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos, is running for vice president.

Recto was quoted as saying that Santos will seek re-election as governor. As for former senator Recto himself, he is among those being tapped to run under the administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s 12-man senatorial ticket.