Defections from Lakas 'no big deal'

MANILA, Philippines – A Lakas-Kampi-CMD official said yesterday the recent defections by Metro Manila candidates are “no big deal.”

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, citing the defection of Mayor Robert Eusebio and his entire slate to the Nacionalista Party, said “Metro Manilans have a long-standing history of voting independently, regardless of their local leaders’ political affiliations.”

He noted that in the 2007 elections, Eusebio and his ticket won only by a small margin over their opponents.

Romulo is Lakas deputy national treasurer and a member of the party’s national executive committee.

Romulo and Lakas-Kampi-CMD president and Saranggani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez also said while some of their members are leaving, “the number of those who left us is easily overshadowed by those coming in to join us. Lakas is today’s dominant party and it will be so in the future.”

Dominguez also said Lakas made the right decision in selecting former defense chief Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. as its standard-bearer despite the latter’s initial poor showing in surveys.

“It is still too early to bank on those surveys. We believe that once the voters get to hear more about Gibo’s platform of governance in the coming days, more and more of them would end up joining (Lakas),” he added.

He also believes that the Teodoro’s approval ratings will go up once the campaign period properly begins.

“Teodoro’s platform of governance is simple and yet acceptable to the masses,” he further said.

Teodoro has pledged to build a leadership centered around the Filipino, “his humanity, his vision, and his nobility to create a society based on the rule of law.”

The former defense chief also vowed to work hard to address poverty by creating more opportunities for the poor to get into entrepreneurship, giving them more access to quality health and educational services, and construct more infrastructures like roads and bridges to jumpstart the economic development of rural areas in the Visayas and Mindanao. – Non Alquitran