Isko is first bet in Miriam-Bongbong Senate slate

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno is the first recruit to the senatorial lineup of the presidential and vice presidential tandem of Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“This is the first time that I will announce that we are adopting the candidacy of Vice Mayor Isko Moreno for senator,” Marcos said during the 23rd Annual National Convention of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines held yesterday at the Marriott Hotel in Manila.

One of the reasons why he chose Moreno is his experience in local government, Marcos said.

“The reason we are very supportive of your president, Vice Mayor Moreno, is because of our belief that we need some people in national government whose heart is in local government to be the representative and voice with principles,” he told the vice mayors.

The national government needs officials with a genuine concern for local governments, Marcos said.

Moreno said he is  honored and humbled that Marcos had chosen him to be part of his senatorial lineup.

“I would like to thank Senator Marcos, and I was not even expecting it at all considering that they don’t have a senatorial lineup yet,” he said after the event.

Moreno is now part of two tickets, the first being that of Sens. Grace Poe and Francis Escudero, who are also running for president and vice president. 

Poe and Escudero accompanied Moreno when he filed his certificate of candidacy last week at the Commission on Elections.

In a recent interview, Santiago said that she is personally going over the names of various politicians who want to be part of their senatorial ticket.

Four to five names are being vetted, but she declined to identify them yet.

Santiago said the partnership she has with Marcos is unlike those of the other candidates who have their own political parties behind them.

What they have is a loose coalition where individual candidates would be allowed to do their own thing, she added.

Santiago said she has been explaining to the candidates interested in joining them that there would be no financial support.

“I will accept them as long as they have done nothing wrong under the Penal Code,” she said. “In other words, as long as he’s not a criminal.”                                           

New KBL faction

A new faction of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) emerged yesterday to support the vice presidential candidacy of Marcos.

They have submitted the necessary documents to the Comelec for their participation in next year’s election,  Jose Vicente Opinion, president and chairman of the new faction, told The STAR.

“We are duly recognized by the Comelec to represent KBL,” he said.

Opinion is the son of the late Jaime Opinion, former KBL executive vice president, whom  the Comelec recognized as signatory in the Certificate of Nomination in the 2012 and 2013 election.

However, Vicente Millora said the Comelec has duly recognized his faction since the KBL’s  reactivation in the late ’80s.

He gave way to Opinion to sign election documents during the 2012 election, but he has reassumed his post as KBL chairman for the 2016 elections, he added.

This is the second time since President Ferdinand Marcos founded the KBL in 1978 that the party has been divided into two factions.

Shortly after the 1986 EDSA people power revolution, the KBL was divided into the Yñiguez  and the Millora factions.

The Yñiguez faction supported the presidential candidacy of former ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., while the Millora faction backed former first lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos.

The Yñiguez faction later become the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and the Millora faction remained KBL.

Millora said he will file a petition before the Comelec to question the installation of Opinion as the new KBL chairman since the party had not held any election.

The two factions are supporting the vice presidential candidacy of Marcos.

“We welcome the petition of Millora to the Comelec so the issue will be settled,” Opinion said.

Millora said he nurtured the KBL for years to make it relevant in past elections.

“I issued the nominations of former first lady Imelda Marcos, including Imee and Bongbong when they ran in the past local elections,” he said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Perseus Echeminada