Unity ticket a recipe for disunity, says GMA House ally

The so-called unity ticket that President Arroyo’s chief of staff Mike Defensor is trying to put together is a "recipe for demoralization" among the ranks of administration allies, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said yesterday.

"It’s a disunity ticket, not a unity slate," said the Isabela lawmaker, who belongs to the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), the political party Mrs. Arroyo founded in 1997 when she was senator.

He said the inclusion of opposition members in the administration’s senatorial slate in the May elections will surely cause demoralization among Mrs. Arroyo’s supporters.

Albano joined several House leaders in objecting to the inclusion of opposition members in the so-called unity ticket.

Talk about such a slate followed speculations that former senators Vicente Sotto III and Tessie Aquino-Oreta, who have deserted the camp of their close friend, ousted President Joseph Estrada, to join the pro-administration Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), might be included in Mrs. Arroyo’s senatorial slate.

According to Defensor, besides Sotto and Oreta, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos and former Marcos-era information minister and opposition senator Francisco Tatad might also land slots on the administration ticket.

Reached by The STAR yesterday for comment, Rep. Imee Marcos of Ilocos Norte said she was unaware of her mother’s political plans, adding that she has not spoken to her mother for some time now.

Last week, Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr., a staunch Arroyo ally, said "we have no place for them (Sotto and Oreta) in the administration ticket."

He said the inclusion of Sotto and Oreta in the administration slate is unfair to those who remained loyal to the President through all the crises that she went through since taking over from Estrada.

He also warned Mrs. Arroyo that the two former senators might be opposition "Trojan horses."

Pichay recalled that Sotto and Oreta, who supported the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., the President’s closest opponent in the May 2004 presidential election, were among those calling for her resignation in the wake of allegations that she cheated Poe.

Pichay is one of at least three congressmen being considered for inclusion in the administration’s senatorial team. The two others are Representatives Gilberto Teodoro Jr. of Tarlac and Juan Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon.

However, Teodoro is more interested in joining the President’s Cabinet as defense secretary than in running for senator.

Over the weekend, more Arroyo allies expressed their objection to a unity ticket that includes opposition members.

Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Gerry Salapuddin and Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan told the President that the inclusion of "opposition turncoats" in the administration ticket may cause cracks in and weaken the ranks of administration supporters as the election nears.

Salapuddin is chairman of the ruling Lakas party for the province of Basilan, while Domogan is Lakas regional chairman for the Cordillera.

"The unity ticket is being pushed only by the so-called Palace bright boys, who, unfortunately, do not compose the leadership of the whole coalition," the two said. "How can we offer ourselves to the people as the only choice for progressive politics if we will be raising the hands of people who, only months ago, demonized us?"

Domogan said the formation of a unity team with former administration critics "smacks of opportunism and selling out."

He cautioned Defensor and other Palace officials against hastiness in "floating rumors" about a unity ticket.

"We have to consider all possibilities, because disunity in the opposition makes them more desperate to try anything to wreak havoc in the administration just to get better chances in the polls. We have the largest and most solid machinery, which may be taken advantage of by opportunists," he said.

Meanwhile, despite the inclusion of Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. and his colleagues in the Nacionalista Party (NP) in the opposition coalition’s senatorial slate, senators seeking reelection come May have not abandoned talks to form an alternative ticket for the midterm polls.

Villar, who heads the NP, and Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan of the Liberal Party (LP) confirmed in separate interviews that reelectionist senators are, indeed, working towards creating a "middle force."

"We hope that all incumbent reelectionists will consider, as we have shown in the past two years, that there is a need for an independent Senate, which will not play deaf or blind," Pangilinan said.

In a bid to put together a solid group of reelectionist senators, Sen. Edgardo Angara said he would block the entry of opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, with whom he has been at odds since 2004, into the "middle force."

"The LP and the NP have agreed in principle to work on a coalition," Pangilinan said. "We must still see that all incumbent reelectionists discuss and decide if we want to continue what we have established in the past year and a half, regardless of party affiliation. We came together and collectively stood our ground as an institution." — With Jess Diaz, Christina Mendez