‘Opposition not scared of GMA in ’04’

Who’s afraid of President Arroyo running in 2004? Not the opposition, Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday.

Angara said President Arroyo’s possible entry in the 2004 race is no longer a top consideration in the opposition’s selection of its standard-bearer.

"What we are looking for in our standard-bearer is someone who can be looked up to and can inspire people," Angara said at the weekly forum at Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. "Someone who can introduce dramatic and drastic changes, as two to three years are needed to stabilize our economic situation."

"We are trying to solidify the opposition," Angara said. "We are going to field only one slate for the senatoriables and one candidate for the presidency."

Fielding a single opposition candidate for the presidential race, he said, will require a measure of self-sacrifice from the candidates who will not be chosen. "Whoever will be selected, everyone must rally behind him."

Fielding a single candidate is paramount and even more important than their own ambitions, he added.

Angara, who is president of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), said opposition parties have come to realize that they must decide whether they should "be hanged together or separately."

All accredited political opposition parties are banding together in a coalition that will be announced in the first week of October.

Angara said the coalition will include the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), PDP-Laban, LP and, possibly, a segment of the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party. This new coalition will be formed in preparation for the October 25 convention, where the selection of candidates for various electoral posts will be done.

Angara made it very clear that each candidate, both those reluctance to join the political derby and those who have announced their bids, will be considered.

On list of possible choices for opposition standard-bearer are Senators Panfilo Lacson, Gregorio Honasan and Aquilino Pimentel; businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco and movie star Fernando Poe Jr.

He also appealed to the "right(-wing) and left(-wing)" adventurists to stop any coup plots and destabilization efforts against the Arroyo administration, as they are doing the opposition a disservice.

Instead, he urged the anti-Arroyo groups to fight her administration by supporting candidates fielded by the opposition in 2004.

"Let us fight (this administration) in the coming election and, if the opposition has only one ticket for the senators and a single presidential candidate, I am sure we will win," Angara said.

"Take the case of the (failed July 27) Oakwood mutiny. (President Arroyo’s) rating surged up after that," he said. "It is obvious Filipinos don’t want any coup. They want to wait for the election results and the opposition (is) willing to participate in that exercise."