Lakas-CMD supports UNA Senate bets

LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines  â€“ The Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) bared it would support more United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial candidates than Liberal Party (LP) bets.

In an interview before joining UNA sorties here yesterday, Lakas-CMD vice chair Danilo Suarez said his party is supporting UNA because their partymate, Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, is one of UNA’s candidates.

He also said that Lakas-CMD members, particularly those based in Quezon province, are not supporting the entire LP slate because of the Aquino administration’s present policy of prioritizing the alleged entry of smuggled and imported palm oil, which they claim affects the prices of copra.

“Here, there will be some LP candidates that will be in the magic 12. But my fearless forecast is that there will be more UNA senatorial candidates that we will support,” Suarez said.

He said the Aquino administration should address the problem of the low prices of copra in Quezon if they want Lakas-CMD to fully support LP in the elections.

“Copra is one of our main crops here. It is just now that its prices had its lowest in the amount of P12 per kilo of copra. The farmers are crying over this. The problem is there are plenty of palm oil that are not only imported, but are also smuggled,” Suarez said.

“We have reason to support UNA. On record, in 2011 there were 500,000 tons of palm oil left from Indonesia and Malaysia. We only receive 350,000. The number one importer of palm oil is the government itself. How can you explain that to the farmers? The copra issue will really affect the candidacies of the LP here,” Suarez noted.

Suarez also clarified that Lakas-CMD has no official alliance with UNA, and that the copra issue is their main reason for supporting UNA.

“We have our own lineup. Lakas will make an announcement on April 10 who (we) will support in the senatorial elections,” Suarez added.