MANILA, Philippines - A power struggle within the Marcos loyalist Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) is threatening the certificates of candidacy ( COC) of hundreds of local and national candidates supporting the vice presidential bid of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Long time KBL president Vicente Millora has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to void the installation of Jose Vicente Opinion as the party’s new chairman and president and those of a new set of officials that allegedly took over the party without a general assembly electing them in accordance with the party’s bylaws.
Millora and Opinion have issued Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) to hundreds of local candidates from Batanes to Mindanao supporting the vice presidential candidacy of Marcos.
The petition has placed them under question.
Millora has issued CONAs to at least 60 congressional and gubernatorial candidates and over a hundred local candidates.
“All the candidates are supporting Senator Marcos, they are all volunteers and hardcore party members,” Millora told The STAR.
The KBL has mobilized its machinery to support the vice presidential candidacy of Marcos, who is running as an independent, party sources said.
In telephone interview with The STAR, Opinion said he has not yet read the petition and insisted that he is the duly installed head of the KBL.
“We are ready to answer all allegations during the hearing,” he said.
They have submitted documents to the Comelec and have issued a public notice that he and his group are the legitimate new party officials authorized by the Comelec, he added.
In his petition Millora sought a writ of injunction to stop the new set of officials from acting for and on behalf of the KBL.