‘Oplan Jingle Bells’ bared, denied

Former President Joseph Estrada is reportedly secretly backing some pro-administration senatorial candidates who can help his son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, become the next Senate chief and a presidential candidate in 2010.

This was revealed by sources from both the opposition and the administration who also bared that the Estrada camp, through "Oplan Jingle Bells,’’ was also seeking to stop Sen. Mar Roxas and prominent opposition candidates Manuel Villar, Panfilo Lacson and Loren Legarda from assuming the Senate presidency. Villar is the current Senate president.

The names of the four senators are reportedly not in the sample ballots to be distributed by Estrada’s "special operations teams’’ possibly this week.

Genuine Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano found the story "ludicrous.’’ He accused the administration of spreading the rumor to sow intrigue within the opposition.

"It’s too preposterous to be even dignified with a comment. That spin shows how desperate Team GMA (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) is," Tamano said.

"They are spending so much money they cannot even think of something believable," he said.

Tamano said GO candidates are more worried about being cheated than who sits next as Senate president.

"It’s barely a week more to go before the elections and I don’t think the GO candidates should be worried about the Senate presidency at this time," he said.

Sen. Jinggoy laughed off the allegations, saying even the name of the alleged election game plan sounded funny.

"That is totally untrue and baseless," he said.

But sources said three of Estrada’s most trusted political lieutenants hatched the plan in February after San Juan Mayor Juan Victor Ejercito did not make it to the opposition senatorial lineup.

The plan was finalized some three weeks ago during a meeting in Estrada’s rest house in Tanay, Rizal where he is detained on plunder charges. The source said those in the meeting included Horacio "Boy" Morales, Rolly Ramirez and newspaper columnist Herman Laurel.

Part of the strategy under Oplan Jingle Bells calls for offering financial assistance before the May 14 elections to certain "winnable’’ senatorial bets from both GO and Team Unity.

Feelers have been sent even to those in the fringes of the Magic 12, like Team Unity’s Michael Defensor, Vicente Sotto III and Juan Miguel Zubiri and GO’s Sonia Roco, Aquilino Pimentel III and former Senator John Osmeña. In exchange, the sources said they were asked to support Jinggoy’s bid for the Senate presidency.

It was earlier reported that Sotto and another TU candidate, Teresa Aquino-Oreta, would be in the sample ballots to be distributed nationwide by the Estrada camp. 

The Estrada camp is also reportedly wooing Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who, while considered friendly to the former president, is also seen to be eyeing the Senate presidency.

The plan also includes allocating Senate committee chairmanships for sympathetic incoming and holdover members of the Senate.

Oplan Jingle Bells is silent on how to deal with Vice President Noli de Castro, according to sources. Strategists of the Estrada camp believe that the Vice President’s role in the overall scheme can be discussed later, after the group succeeds in consolidating support for Jinggoy.