MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Manny Villar admitted yesterday that there would be conflicts in areas deemed as “free zones” or where members of the coalition of the administration Liberal Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition and the Nacionalista Party (NP) will all be fielding candidates.
“May the best man win na lang,” said Villar, who is NP president.
Villar made the declaration before some 100 local officials in Region 8, who took their oath as members of the NP yesterday.
In his speech during the oath-taking at the Leyte Park Hotel convention center in Tacloban City, Villar said the NP will continue to be a dominant party with five senators, 30 congressmen, 10 governors and more than 200 mayors.
The exodus of elected officials to the NP continues a week before the filing of certificates of candidacy for those running in next year’s mid-term elections.
Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, his wife councilor Cristina Romualdez and Eastern Samar Vice Gov. Christopher Sheen Gonzales, who earlier joined NP, attended the oath-taking ceremony.