LDP panel suspends Angara

The bickering in the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino took a turn for the worse yesterday after a party committee declared the retroactive suspension of Sen. Edgardo Angara as LDP president for "acts inimical to the party."

Makati City Rep. Agapito Aquino, who was earlier "indefinitely suspended" as party secretary general, said Angara’s suspension took effect Dec. 15.

Aquino said the suspension will be in force until the committee tasked to investigate the allegations against Angara makes its recommendations.

"It is unfortunate that this had to happen but we no longer have any choice," Aquino said.

Angara, however, said he would not recognize the suspension order, calling it a "juvenile act."

"We don’t have a double-headed organization. As Butz Aquino’s title implies, he is a mere record keeper," Angara said.

LDP spokesman Mike Romero said the suspension was out of line. "Rep. Aquino or the committee he formed does not have the power to suspend. Under the LDP constitution, only the party president or Senator Angara has the authority to suspend erring members," Romero said in a statement.

Aquino said the party leadership has appointed Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (Nueva Vizcaya), Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla and Muntinlupa City Rep. Rufino Biazon to investigate the allegations against Angara.

Since Biazon had taken a "leave of absence" from the party, Aquino said Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat is being considered to sit in the committee to investigate the allegations.

The suspension stemmed from the complaint of Iloilo Rep. Rolex Suplico and Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra who moved for the expulsion of Angara from the party for alleged "acts of disloyalty and dictatorship."

Both lawmakers joined a number of LDP stalwarts in accusing Angara of insisting to support the candidacy of actor Fernando Poe Jr., a non-LDP member, as the party standard-bearer for the 2004 presidential elections.

Angara earlier sanctioned several LDP officials after they declared Sen. Panfilo Lacson the united opposition’s bet. He declared the proclamation of Lacson was "illegal."

Mitra, Suplico and other Lacson supporters were immediately weeded out from their positions in the party upon orders of Angara, who also appointed their replacements.

Angara has also expelled Lacson from the LDP for accepting his supporters’ nomination as their presidential standard-bearer in next year’s elections.

He had also ordered Aquino to go on leave effective Dec. 6 but no apparent reason was given.

Aquino accused Angara of undertaking a unilateral purge of Lacson’s supporters in the party to pave the way for the automatic declaration of Poe.

Lacson insisted he is still the official presidential bet of the LDP notwithstanding the unilateral declaration of Angara ousting him from the party.

Aquino claimed yesterday the suspension was not supposed to be imposed had not Angara reversed an earlier agreement in resolving their differences.

Aquino said representatives of both factions of the LDP met at the office of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos last Wednesday to resolve the issue of the party’s standard-bearer.

Angara and Aquino represent the two warring factions within LDP, stemming from their different choice for standard-bearer in the 2004 elections. Angara is a known supporter of Poe Jr. while Aquino is backing Lacson.

Angara earlier made a manifestation before Comelec that the official opposition candidate should be endorsed by himself as LDP president and Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) leaders.

Angara told the Comelec that Aquino had no power to exercise his powers as party secretary-general because he has been placed on "forced leave of absence."

The Comelec said Thursday that it will keep its hands off the intraparty dispute and appealed for both sides to break the stalemate.

Aquino said both groups decided to heed the advice of Comelec and met at his residence for more than three hours.

There was an agreement, Aquino claimed, to return to "a status quo" and the suspensions issued against Lacson supporters in the party deferred until all the other issues are finally resolved. He described the three-hour meeting as "very cordial."

But later in the evening, Aquino claimed receiving a telephone call from one of Angara’s representatives quoting the LDP chairman flatly rejecting the agreement, adding the emissaries who attended the meeting were even scolded.

"If that’s the situation, if that’s the way he wants to run the party, disregarding the agreements set by his own emissaries, then he should go to the Comelec (chairman) himself," Aquino said.

Aquino explained that under the LDP constitution, it is his duty as party secretary-general to instill discipline with the concurrence of the chairman.

But since the chairman himself is the object of the complaints, Aquino said he can impose such measures in "emergency situations."

"Naturally, I had to create (a) committee to investigate him (Angara)," Aquino said. "I gave him due process which he has been denying us."

Aquino earlier reminded Angara that any move to replace LDP officers without conducting the necessary election is illegal under the party rules and constitution.

Aquino claimed Angara was acting as "the party, the national congress and the executive council all rolled into one."

He said Angara’s "divisive brand of leadership" has caused many party members to leave, naming the late Senate president Neptali Gonzalez, President Arroyo, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, former Tarlac congressman Jose Cojuangco and recently, Biazon.