Palace would abide by Comelec ruling on merged party

MANILA, Philippines - The administration is ready for the possibility that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would reject the application for accreditation of the merged Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III, also an official of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, said yesterday if the Comelec rejects the ruling party’s application, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) “will go back to their individual identities.”

“In that situation, probably what they (Lakas-CMD and Kampi) can do is to coalesce,” Bello said.

The two parties merged last May but Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. and former President Fidel Ramos opposed the merger.

De Venecia also filed a petition before the poll body asking it to declare the merger null and void and illegal.

Bello said such an adverse ruling would not break up the parties into factions.

He pointed out that the two parties are both headed by President Arroyo “and both parties support the President.”

“So the effort is just to merge (and) put these two parties into one political identity and nobody can prevent us from merging. The possible problem is our accreditation by Comelec as the dominant political party,” Bello said. - Paolo Romero