Gullas not in a hurry to coalesce with LP

CEBU, Philippines - While the administration Liberal Party consolidates its forces with the Nacionalista Party (NP), the coalition in the local level has yet to be felt in the local districts, first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas said. 

Gullas said local politics is different and it poses a problem especially in his district. 

Based on the congress journal, Gullas is a member of the NP of Senator Manuel Villar.

According to Gullas, the coalition between LP and NP has to be felt in the local districts particularly in his district where members of his Alayon Party continue to clash with some members of the LP. 

Alayon is headed by Gullas while LP in the first district is headed by San Fernando town Mayor Antonio “Abe” Canoy, who has commented that even if Gullas and Alayon would ally with the district’s LP bloc, it doesn’t mean that Gullas can call the shots.

Canoy said LP Cebu provincial chairman Hilario “Junjun” Davide III has assured him that even if Gullas and Alayon ally with LP, the San Fernando mayor will still remain Cebu first district chairman and will still adhere to party decisions.

But Gullas is not in a hurry. 

He said that areas with conflict, such as that of his own particularly in San Fernando, will be deliberated by the LP and NP arbitration committees. 

Gullas already said it makes a lot of sense for the two parties to be aligned ahead of the mid-term elections.

Gullas said the LP used to be the ‘liberal wing’ of the NP. 

The late President Manuel Roxas, grandfather of LP chief and Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, ran for the country’s highest post as the candidate of the NP’s “liberal wing” in the 1946 national elections, before he eventually bolted the NP to establish the LP.  (FREEMAN)