Liberal Party open to reconciliation with Drilon-led faction

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, concurrent national chairman of the Liberal Party, said yesterday the doors of reconciliation stand open for the party’s breakaway group led by Senate President and LP president Franklin Drilon.

Atienza said this at yesterday’s celebration of the LP’s 60th anniversary at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, which carried the theme: "Sulong Liberal, Sulong Pilipinas," though he admitted that the seven-month rift in the LP has yet to be resolved.

A crowd of 3,000 people attended the Plaza Miranda celebration, which saw the closure of the southbound lane of Quezon Boulevard to vehicular traffic, causing heavy traffic jams in surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, the LP announced yesterday that it intends to resolve the conflict within the party internally, at its own pace and in its own way.

LP executive vice president and Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta issued a statement in response to the challenge issued by Atienza to the party leadership.

Atienza has been at odds with Drilon since Drilon and other members of the LP called for President Arroyo’s resignation, including former education secretary Florencio Abad and Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, who were absent at the LP celebration.

"We need to solve this within the party because we have party-mates who are moving in a different direction," Atienza said. "What happened (on) July 8, 2005 is a violation of the law. This is not in line with the party... They should follow the rule of law or else we will never progress as a nation."

Drilon and his party-mates in the Senate and the House of Representatives have withdrawn their support from Mrs. Arroyo as a result of the scandals and controversies hounding her.

Atienza, on the other hand, remains supportive of Mrs. Arroyo, which may result in a split within the LP.

There are still "very serious efforts to reconcile," Atienza said. "We are hoping that the (Drilon) faction will wake up" to the fact that they called for the President’s resignation without consulting the majority of the party’s members or leaders.

Acosta said the LP is standing by the party consensus to respect the divergent views and perspectives of individual LP members and officers.

He said the accord was reached at a party caucus held at the residence of Sen. Manuel Roxas II on Oct. 25, 2005.

"The LP anchors itself on principles of individual freedom and human rights," Acosta said. "As such, the party has decided to uphold our individual members’ positions on such fundamental issues pertaining to the legitimacy of a sitting president and the credibility of our electoral process."

"We believe that the LP, faced as it is with internal disagreements, will emerge stronger for it," he added. "The LP takes the challenge of working through these differences at its own pace and mode."

While Drilon and the other LP members opened the celebration with the Asian Regional Conference on Liberalism and Democracy at the Dusit Hotel yesterday morning, Atienza and the President held a separate celebration in Manila a few hours later.

"We believe that the political crisis besetting the country has reshaped the larger political landscape. The resolution of such crisis cannot be forced by fiat," Acosta said.

"Just as the country needs to seek meaningful solutions to address this political stalemate, the LP seeks to reflect on and work through these differences by means of its established mechanisms," he added.

The LP denied that the two events symbolize the split within the LP and said the Manila rally was part of the scheduled program and was staged by LP-Manila chapter leaders.

However, LP chairman emeritus and former Senate President Jovito Salonga said in a message read at the Plaza Miranda rites by Dr. Quintin Doromal that he was willing to become an instrument of reconciliation among the warring party-mates.

"Today, we are divided once more, but it is my hope and prayer that, like brothers, we can agree without being disagreeable, we can differ without being difficult," Salonga said. "If I can serve as an instrument of reconciliation between the two camps, I shall be most happy." Salonga recalled that, after the Japanese Occupation in 1945, a year before the LP was formed, there was a rift between Senators Manuel Roxas and Sergio Osmeña, both of whom sought — and eventually gained — the presidency. In the end, it was the more dynamic Roxas who was first elected president.

Sixty years after that political upheaval, the country is again experiencing turmoil, with the opposition and some members of the LP claiming Mrs. Arroyo cheated in the 2004 presidential elections.

"There should be an end to the senseless squabbles and bickering that cripple our economy and give (away) our progress as a free and democratic society," Salonga said.

Atienza said the call for economic stability was the LP’s battle-cry since its creation on Jan. 19, 1946 "and we will not accomplish this is we continue to have tumultuous politics."

He also recalled the Aug. 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing that killed several LP members as "where the roots of the LP were formed in fighting for our rights, our freedom and democracy."

Senate Majority Leader and LP vice chairman Francis Pangilinan said the general sentiment of the party is to find a possible middle ground to resolve the disunity within the party.

"A party split is the last thing any right-thinking LP member would want to happen and based on my own consultations with party-mates, this is something those in the silent majority wish to avoid. We have party mechanisms to resolve these differences," Pangilinan said.

The LP anniversary celebration culminates with a testimonial lunch in honor of Salonga tomorrow at the Club Filipino in the town of San Juan. — With Marvin Sy