Chiz: I won't run under Villar

MANILA, Philippines - Opposition Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday rejected a proposal to team up with Sen. Manny Villar, even as the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey shows a likely win for them if presidential elections are held today.

“Impossible. It will never happen. I stand for good governance,” Escudero said. “Given what I have seen and read about the allegations raised in the C5 controversy, it seems just the tip of the iceberg. I cannot in good conscience run with or under him,” said Escudero.

Villar has refused to attend the hearings at the Senate on the allegations raised by Sen. Jamby Madrigal last October that his real estate empire benefited from the diversion of the C5 road extension project.

“If the charges are false, then there is still time for Senator Villar to present his side before his peers in the Senate,” Escudero said.

Results of the SWS survey on the people’s preference for presidential and vice presidential bets showed the Villar-Escudero tandem as the most preferred by survey respondents and got a 36 percent approval rating.

Former President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Loren Legarda, on the other hand, got 28 percent approval rating, while Vice President Noli de Castro and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro both got 11 percent rating.

The tandem of Sen. Manuel Roxas and Sen. Panfilo Lacson got a nine percent rating. The SWS poll was conducted before Roxas withdrew from the presidential race to give way to Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

The SWS survey asked respondents the question: “If the following would be the tandems for president and vice president of the Philippines, who would you likely vote if elections are held today?”