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ALLIES, FOES, SAY
NO TO UNITY TICKET
by Gil Cabacungan, Jr. and TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 22, 2006, page 24
A proposal to form an administration-backed "unity ticket," which could include captured former senator Gregorio Honasan for the 2007 midterm elections, has caused grumblings among President Macapagal-Arroyo's political allies and denunciations from the opposition.
Former Senator Heherson T. Alvarez said the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats reacted sharply to the proposal of Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor for the administration to take in up to six opposition bets in it's 12-member senatorial slate, specifically jailed coup plotter Honasan whom he called a "criminal suspect."
"Why, after spending so much money and effort to capture Honasan, would the government want to get him on its senatorial slate," said Alvarez in a press statement yesterday.
Defensor, a member of the Liberal Party (Atienza Wing), said that aside from Honasan, the government was exploring the possibility of recruiting former Senators Tessie Aquino-Oreta, John Osmeņa and re-electionist senators Ralph Recto, Francis Pangilinan and Edgardo Angara (or his son Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara) to bolster the administration's bid to grab control of the Senate.
Opportunism
The move to take in Honasan "reeks of political opportunism, is bad modelling for political parties and reflects very poor respect for our system of justice," said Alvarez in a press statement.
"It is unfortunate, and may even be tragic, if we set such standards for choosing candidates -- exploiting the notoriety of people who have been arrested by law enforcers. We are not looking for saints, but let us avoid personalities who have a brush with the law or who have yet to explain their illicit public conduct."
Alvarez, in an interview with Inquirer, was mum on the other opposition candidates named by Defensor. "As far as we are concerned, we (Lakas) don't know of any unity slate," said Alvarez, who admitted to his own plans to return to the Senate.
Alvarez, added that the President might not even endorse a common slate since she is not running for office unlike in 2004. "She is giving her political allies more leeway to field their candidates," he said.
'Desperate'
On the other side of the political fence, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. also rebuffed Malacaņang on its proposed "unity ticket," dismissing it as a "desperate attempt to ensure political survival."
The opposition also wants Honasan, who is facing new rebellion charges.
Pimentel, in his own press statement, predicted that the proposal would "never see the light of day" because the coalition of opposition parties, including former President Estrada's Puwersa ng Masa, had already drawn up a senatorial slate for next year's mid-term elections -- and it includes Honasan.
Other names said to be on the opposition coalition list are Pangilinan, Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Pimentel's son Aquilino III, Senate President Manuel Villar, Recto, former Senators Loren Legarda, Vicente Sotto III, Honasan, Osmeņa and Oreta. Also mentioned are Representatives Francis Escudero, Allan Peter Cayetano and San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito.
The coalition includes Estrada's PMP, Villar's Nacionalista Party and Franklin Drilon's LP Wing, among others.
"If most opposition parties had turned down Ms. Arroyo's part overtures for a government of national unity or coalition government, there is greater reason for them to reject is newly concocted idea of a unity ticket," said Pimentel's statement.
While it could be a mere ploy to "test the waters," the proposal showed that Malacaņang wanted to "co-opt its opponents" and "ensure its political survival," the senator said.
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