NPC endorses 10 senatorial bets

The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) of businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. has decided to adopt eight senatorial candidates from the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) and two from the administration People Power Coalition (PPC).

The NPC is also nominating Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., former Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim and Rep. Luis "Baby" Asistio as its mayoral candidates for Quezon City, Manila and Caloocan City, respectively. Belmonte will be the official candidate of Lakas and PPC.

Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro Jr., NPC executive committee chairman and a nephew of Cojuangco, said their group has adopted re-electionist Senators Juan Flavier and Sergio Osmeña III of the ruling coalition.

From the opposition, he said they are supporting LDP president Edgardo Angara, former First Lady Luisa "Loi" Ejercito, Senators Gregorio Honasan, Juan Ponce Enrile and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, former Press Secretary Ricardo Puno, former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson and former broadcaster Noli de Castro.

Teodoro said PPC candidates Joker Arroyo and Roberto Pagdanganan are being considered for "adoption."

He said most of those they have decided to adopt have approached them for support.

"Yung hindi kumakausap sa amin, hindi naming sinusuportahan (Those who are not talking to us, we don’t support)," he added.

Some PPC members had expected NPC to support at least six of their candidates since the Cojuangco party has taken a policy of critical collaboration with the Arroyo administration.

The NPC earlier deserted deposed President Joseph Estrada’s Lapian ng Masang Pilipino and decided to go it alone in the May elections. It is not fielding a senatorial ticket because it wants to concentrate on local level, particularly the election of a new set of congressmen.

Teodoro, with Cojuangco’s backing, wants to take a crack at the speakership when the incoming Congress convenes in July.

In a related development, former Agriculture Secretary Roberto Sebastian, PPC provincial chairman for Davao del Norte, told his critics yesterday to help him attend to the needs of thousands of families displaced by typhoon "Auring."

"I urge my detractors who are at the moment occupying key positions in government to forget about their personal political concerns and instead focus on the more immediate needs of their constituents," he said in a statement sent to reporters.

His appeal was addressed to Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez, Rep. Antonio Floirendo, who represents Davao del Norte’s second district, and Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario.

The three have protested Sebastian’s designation as provincial chairman by the PPC secretariat chaired by Finance Secretary Alberto Romulo.

Before his appointment to the Cabinet, Alvarez was Davao del Norte’s first district representative in the House. He and Sebastian belong to Executive Secretary Renato de Villa’s Reporma, one of several political groups under the PPC umbrella.

Alvarez and Floirendo were part of the group of former Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. that supported the impeachment complaint against then President Joseph Estrada.

In Davao City, President Arroyo said she is leaving it to local politicians to resolve the conflict on who will run under the PPC banner in their respective localities.

"I am confident the local politicians themselves can resolve the conflicts in their areas. They can solve them," the President told reporters, apparently referring to the controversy hounding Sebastian and Del Rosario. — With Edith Regalado