Manny talks with Erap

For the nth time, Senator Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. visited anew deposed President Joseph Estrada in the latter’s rest house detention in Tanay, Rizal last Sunday. Villar, president of the Nacionalista Party (NP), was accompanied by his wife, Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar and Quezon Province Gov. Willie Enverga, also from NP.

Like some of the EDSA-2 leaders whom he had earlier forgiven, Estrada has reconciled with Villar and the many other political personalities behind the railroaded impeachment proceedings against him in Congress and his subsequent ouster from office in January 2001.

"Okay naman kami ni Presidente. Wala na sa amin ang nakaraan," Villar told me during our regular Tuesday Club breakfast forum at the EDSA- Shangri-La in Mandaluyong City yesterday.

An excited President Estrada called up The STAR last Saturday to tell me Villar was going to visit him and invited me to also go to Tanay as if that was the easiest thing to do. But he later called back to say his detention guards would not allow him to invite me because I am a member of media who are among those barred from visiting the detained President.

Anyway, there was nothing sinister on the visit of Villar to Estrada, if only to secure the solid support and votes of at least four Senators in his bid to formally assume next week the Senate presidency as per the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with outgoing Senate president Franklin Drilon. Getting Estrada’s support means getting Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile and Alfredo Lim and Estrada’s mother-and-son team of former First Lady-turned Senator Dr. Luisa ‘Loi’ Ejercito and ex-San Juan Mayor-turned Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

But Villar himself is realistic enough to admit the rabid independence of each of the Senators and therefore, it would be foolhardy to presume anyone can talk in behalf of anyone of them, much more to talk in behalf of the majority or the minority at the Senate.

At this stage, Villar conceded it is still premature to talk about reorganization at the Senate, if any, until the formal turn-over rites between him and Drilon takes place when sessions resume and the President delivers her state of the nation address (SONA) on Monday (July 24).

In the meantime, he says, his NP has been consolidating its ranks and he has opened lines for talks with other political parties for possible coalition. And that, I assumed, includes Estrada’s own Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) and the other members of the United Opposition (UNO) coalition parties as well as Drilon’s Liberal Party (LP). Thus, Villar clarifies, it is wrong to describe the Senate grouping as either administration or anti-administration.

Despite these developments, the Palace was unperturbed over the visit of Villar with Estrada. Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor looks at it as part of Villar’s contribution to the national efforts for reconciliation.

Defensor himself keeps an open line of communication with Estrada. Defensor does so despite the rantings by Estrada’s arch foe, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, a chief ally of the Arroyo administration.

Singson has repeatedly scored Defensor and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno for allegedly giving a lot of concessions to Estrada and accused the two Arroyo Cabinet officials of trying to railroad the government’s plunder case at the Sandiganbayan against the former President. Singson, who is the government’s star witness in the plunder case against his estranged mah jong pal, strongly believes the government has solid case to convict Estrada.

"I don’t care if he (Estrada) is even pardoned by President Arroyo the next day of his conviction for as long as the court process is followed," Singson fumed.

But getting Singson’s ire is the least of Villar’s worries now. As in his past visits to Tanay, he noted the very sumptuous lunch served to them by Estrada while their time together stretched all the way to merienda in the late afternoon.

Villar, however, begged off from giving details of his talks with Estrada except to say: "I feel comfortable with him (Estrada)."

In my column last Wednesday, I made a slip of including Enrile as a re-electionist Senator, and Sen. Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson who are in the Senatorial draft of Estrada. Actually, Enrile’s six-year term ends in 2010. Lacson, on the other hand, is supposedly more interested to run for the mayoral race in Manila.

I missed to include Reps. Alan Peter Cayetano (Pateros, NP) and Rep. Imee Marcos (Ilocos Norte, KBL) in the United Opposition Senate slate being drafted by Estrada. Cayetano is the younger brother of Lakas-NUCD Sen. Pia Cayetano. In the case of Imee, there is no word yet whether it would be her or her younger brother Ilocos Norte Gov. Bongbong Marcos who would run for the Senate, or the two of them would swap places for next year’s elections. Both Cayetano and Marcos are on their third and last term in Congress.

Villar himself is up for re-election along with fellow Senators Loi Ejercito, Ping Lacson, Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Ralph Recto and Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan. Sen. Loi is not, however, running for a second term. I would not be surprised if Villar’s name is eventually included in the 12-man Senatorial ticket of Estrada. That is if the May 2007 elections take place.

As pundits always say politics makes allies and foes strange bedfellows.

Aside from Defensor who is looking at the May 2007 polls with moist eyes for the Senate race, fellow Cabinet official, Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan, president of the state-run Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), made no secret what his birthday wish is: to become elected governor again in his home province of Bulacan. Obet celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday with his friends at the Tuesday Club.

Now as a senior citizen, Obet wisecracked he’s now a holder of dual citizenship. But he says at this age, it has given him the edge over his potential rivals in the gubernatorial race in Bulacan gauging from the wide network of national and local government links he established from different Cabinet posts he held, from his being a Presidential adviser for cooperatives to becoming once an Agrarian Reform Secretary to Tourism Secretary when he became the chairman of the successful staging of the South East Asian Games in the Philippines last year.

So you see, even the administration stalwarts are busy preparing for the May 2007 elections despite all these big talks about Charter change.

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