8 LP lawmakers join Lakas-Kampi

MANILA, Philippines - Eight congressmen from the Liberal Party (LP) transferred last Friday to the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD, a top party official announced yesterday.

Ray Roquero, Lakas-Kampi-CMD deputy secretary general, told reporters during the weekly news forum Kapihan sa Sulo in Quezon City that the LP defectors took their oath before Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

“The defection of the LP members is a heavy erosion of opposition power bases with the presidential elections just seven months away. The series of defections would deplete the support for the Noynoy (Sen. Benigno) Aquino and Mar (Sen. Manuel) Roxas tandem,” he said.

Roquero said former LP Reps. Rodolfo Valencia (first district, Mindoro), Mary Mitzy Cajayon (second district, Caloocan City), Reynaldo Uy (first district, Western Samar), Glen Chong (Biliran), Ramon Chungalao (Ifugao), Magtanggol Gunigundo (second district, Valenzuela City), Alvin Sandoval (Malabon), and Jose Antonio Roxas (Pasay City) took their oath as new administration party members.

Valencia said he joined the administration party to support the presidential bid of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro because of his strong convictions, untainted political record and his exercise of political will in times of crisis.

Cajayon said Teodoro is the most qualified and most intellectually prepared candidate among all presidential aspirants.

He said the first wave of defection triggered a crucial realignment of political forces and the Lakas-Kampi-CMD is the biggest beneficiary, a week after the Commission on Elections gave it status in the May elections.

Reggie Velasco, Lakas-Kampi-CMD deputy secretary general, expects an exodus of local officials from other parties to the administration party ahead of the party’s national convention next month to proclaim Teodoro as its standard-bearer in the 2010 elections.

“This is only the beginning. They see Lakas-Kampi-CMD as the party of reform, concrete achievements, and as the party of the future,” Velasco said.

He said the new members have boosted not just the numerical superiority of the ruling party in the House of Representatives but its political muscle at the grassroots level.

“We are the party of choice not because we are the biggest but because we have a coherent, workable and sustainable program of government,” Velasco said.