‘Unity team’ saving seat for Montano?

The Arroyo administration may yet pull another surprise with the inclusion of award-winning actor and director Cesar Montano in its senatorial ticket, top administration officials said yesterday.

Two officials, who are privy to negotiations in finalizing the 12-member "unity ticket" for the administration, also revealed moves by opposition leaders to switch allegiance.

The officials said former senator Francisco Tatad, who resigned from the United Opposition (UNO) last week, wanted to be included in the administration list.

Personalities including former senator and basketball star Robert Jaworski, former senator Heherson Alvarez and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda are among the last-minute possibilities being considered to fill up the remaining two to three slots, they said.

The first official said Montano’s inclusion was strongly endorsed by the powerful Cebuano and Bohol bloc of administration legislators and local officials from the Visayas in ensuring the actor’s victory in the Senate race. It was in Cebu that President Arroyo had her biggest margin of victory in the 2004 presidential elections.

"He (Montano) is considered not only as a serious actor, but his films are respectable and have nationalist overtones... He speaks six dialects. Negotiations have been underway and he is very receptive," the first official said.

The second official, on the other hand, confirmed negotiations are ongoing with Montano with his supporters assuring the actor of a solid Visayan vote.

The same official also disclosed that the so-called "Third Force" – composed of reelectionist senators Manuel Villar, Francisco Pangilinan, Joker Arroyo and Ralph Recto – are set to join the administration slate after making noises they are joining the opposition lineup brokered by deposed President Joseph Estrada.

The official said the inclusion of the four reelectionist senators "would greatly help in the legislative work in the Senate as they have done in the past."

"They (Wednesday group) have been a great help in legislation and by the looks of it, the UNO is now an empty shell," the official said.

The source said the reelectionist senators joined the administration ticket as a group as in the case of former opposition senators Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Vicente Sotto III, who will be included in the slate as a "package deal" in joining the administration-allied Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) last week.

So far, the names in the senatorial shortlist being circulated among coalition members for final consideration include Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor, Tarlac Rep. Gilbert Teodoro, Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, Pangasinan Gov. Vicente Agbayani, Optical Media Board head Edu Manzano, and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

Singson was endorsed by local officials led by the League of Governors and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).

Salceda, who is on his last term in the House of Representatives, is being pushed to represent the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI), the political party formed by President Arroyo in 1997 in her presidential bid the following year.

The ruling coalition is led by the mammoth Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats headed by Mrs. Arroyo. Other members apart from the NPC are the Liberal Party faction led by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, the Nacionalista Party (NP), KAMPI and the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP).

Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio, on the other hand, refused to comment on Montano’s possible Senate run.

He said the final lineup would be "a combination of incumbents, former legislators, and coalition member- and local government-endorsed candidates, and other homegrown leaders, meaning those who have never been identified with the opposition."

"There are still finishing touches like balancing the geographical considerations of the voting. You have to have a solid North, solid Visayas and Mindanao," Claudio said.

He said efforts are also being exerted to allay the concerns of administration stalwarts – particularly Pichay and Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone – on the impending inclusion of Sotto and Oreta in the lineup.

"This (inclusion of opposition figures) is an issue for dialogue. This has to be explained no matter how speculative and fluid things still are," he said.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita recalled a combination of administration and opposition slate would be "powerful" just like in the senatorial elections in 1995 that later led to smooth relations between Malacañang and Congress.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for former First Lady Imelda Marcos denied reports she had approached the administration to be included in the unity slate.

Ding Diaz took exception to statements made by Defensor who said Mrs. Marcos wanted to be included in the administration slate.

"We were completely surprised but we did not get offended since everything’s OK between Mrs. Marcos and the President," Diaz said.

While there is a strong clamor for her to run, Mrs. Marcos said she has no definite political plans yet as of now.