Drilon last week threatened to withdraw it's support from the opposition if it drops Kiko as a candidate:
The sources said Drilon has been asking GO leaders to retain Pangilinan despite his decision to remain an independent candidate even after his adoption as guest candidate.
Drilon heads a faction of the Liberal Party of which Pangilinan is national vice chairman. The other faction is headed by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza.
"If GO would drop Kiko, the entire Liberal Party contingent would leave the opposition coalition," one of the sources said.
Although Drilon later consented to GO's plan to let Kiko go.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan has been junked by the Genuine Opposition in its senatorial slate.
Sources said Tuesday LP president Sen. Franklin Drilon finally consented to GO’s plan to get rid of Pangilinan after the latter did not show up at the coalition’s proclamation rally on Saturday.
Drilon worked for GO’s adoption of Pangilinan, vice-chairman of the LP-Drilon wing.
"Senator Drilon could not do anything. Kiko continued to shy away from the opposition. Finally, he (Drilon) told the leaders of the opposition ‘go ahead; anyway I’m not the one funding his campaign.’ So that’s it," one of the sources said.
Pero ang usapan raw ay hindi siya pwedeng palitan:
GO will violate coalition deal if Kiko replaced - LP
03/01/2007 | 01:56 PM
Liberal Party president Franklin Drilon told reporters on Thursday that if the Genuine Opposition (GO) finds a replacement for Francis “Kiko" Pangilinan in its 12-man Senate slate, this would violate the coalition agreement entered into by the two groups, radio station dzBB reported...
LP vice-president Florencio Abad said that replacing Pangilinan in the opposition slate would only “complicate" the matter.
First of all, if there's an agreement between Drilon of the Liberal Party and the Opposition over Kiko's candidacy, then the opposition should honor that agreeement. Palabra de honor. Your word is your bond. End of story. We need to honor the agreement the way Manny Villar honored his by not jumping ship (either to the admin or the "Third Farce") when Joker, Recto and Kiko were luring him away from GO.
Having only 11 candidates is not the ideal, but I'd rather have that than breaking the agreement with the Liberal party over Kiko. If the agreement is to not replace Kiko, then so be it.
Bilib rin talaga ako kela Drilon at Abad. They stood up for their partymate Kiko. That's loyalty there for you. I guess if I were in their shoe, I would have done the same thing.
But I agree also with Lito Banayo:
How does the opposition solve a problem like Kiko?
Ignore him as if he did not exist? That is difficult to do because every time they have a major rally, media would always report about the candidate who was not there. They give Kiko free media exposure just for snubbing them.
And Kiko is totally unrepentant. He flaunts his "independence" and makes political hay about not wanting to be in anybody’s company. Chiz was right in fulminating about Kiko’s attitude. "What does he think of us, lepers?" referring to a disease which used to be highly infectious. Truth is, Kiko is acting precisely like that. He does not want to be "contaminated" by the opposition. He prefers the solitary use of his wife Sharon as his one and only campaigner. He would not share his one and only precious political possession with the rest of the candidates of GO. Makiki-ambus pa nga naman sa kasikatan ni Mega, or so he preens.
There is only one sane and honorable way for the GO to treat the problem that is Kiko. And that is to drop him from their list of candidates. Never mind if they are left with eleven instead of twelve. Let the people write in their personal replacement for Kiko. It could be any of the three Kapatiran candidates, like Zosimo Paredes Jr. or Martin Bautista or Adrian Sison. It would not be right to substitute one of the three for Kiko. That would split up a well-intentioned nascent political experiment. Let the people write in their replacement for Kiko. Print sample ballots with only eleven names for senator.
Here's more: Noynoy nagbantang kakalas kung papalitan si Kiko
NAGBANTA kahapon si Genuine Opposition (GO) senatorial candidate Benigno ’Noynoy’ Aquino III na kakalas siya sa hanay ng oposisyon sakaling ipilit na lagyan ng kapalit ang tinanggal na senatorial bet na si re-electionist Senator Francis ’Kiko’ Pangilinan.
Ayon sa kuya ng kontrobersiyal na TV-host actress na si Kris Aquino, mapipilitan siyang umalis sa GO kapag naglagay ng kapalit ni Sen. Pangilinan sa senatorial line-up matapos alisin dahil sa hindi pagsipot sa nakalipas na grand proclamation rally ng oposisyon sa Plaza Miranda sa Quiapo, Manila kamakailan
Hindi rin umano siya pabor na alisin ang pa-ngalan ni Pangilinan sa mga campaign poster ng GO lalo na kung maglalagay ng kapalit dito.
“Kung papalitan nila si Kiko na aking kapartido sa Liberal Party ay mapipilitan akong kumalas sa GO,” dagdag pa ni Noynoy.
Kaugnay nito, sinabi naman ng isa sa nangungunang kandidato ng GO na si senatorial candidate Francis ’Chiz’ Escudero na maging siya ay hindi rin pabor na palitan kaagad si Pangilinan.
“Desisyon po ng Executive Committee ng GO ang tungkol kay Senator Pangilinan pero ako po ay naniniwala na ’di rin dapat punuan ang binitiwang puwesto ng kaibigan nating senador,” ani Escudero sa press conference kahapon ng umaga sa La Corona Hotel sa Lipa City.
.....
Ayon kay Escudero, kahit na tinanggal na sa GO si Pangilinan, dadalhin pa rin niya ito sa pangangampanya dahil ito ay sarili niyang desisyon.
More: JV says he will not replace Kiko
But here's the interesting part:
In the Senate, lawmakers yesterday took a dig at former Sen. Ernesto Maceda for blaming Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr. for the controversy created by the GO’s dropping of Pangilinan from its slate.
Villar himself chided Maceda, supported by Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., saying finger-pointing at this time will bring them nowhere and will only sow division in their ranks.
Although Villar had said he does not intend to retaliate, he addressed the issue just the same.
“Id like to clarify that never did Maceda and I talk about the issue. I talked only with (former) President (Joseph) Estrada, only the two of us. That is why I’m wondering how he was able to get the information regarding my conversation with him (Estrada).
“I want to leave behind this issue. (But I’d like to point out) it’s Pangilinan’s decision and that of GO and I respect them both. As I’ve been saying in the past, Pangilinan is part of the Wednesday group and as much as possible, I would like us to be campaigning together,” he said.
Villar stressed it was GO that approached them, his Nacionalista Party (NP) and the LP and offered the idea of them aligning with the mainstream opposition, a matter, that he admitted, they were willing to undertake.
“We need not rely on others, actually or any other party as a matter of fact. When we agreed for a tie-up, this is aimed at establishing cooperation, collaboration...and expression of support to their sentiment and not to their group per se.”
Pimentel, for his part, rallied behind Villar as he urged other prominent personalities to refrain from further highlighting the issue of Pangilinan as they do not stand to gain anything in fault-finding.
I agree with Villar and Pimentel.
Another strange thing happened: the rally that was supposed to be organized by Drilon and Gov. Tupas in Iloilo city mysteriously got cancelled (for "security reasons" raw):
Being a coalition has its benefits in the sense that it gathers under one umbrella several political groups of different persuasions. But it has also its problems as was manifested in the cancellation of the Iloilo City rally last week.
The Liberal Party-Drilon wing, a member of the GO coalition, was supposed to be in charge of that rally. They have Gov. Niel Tupas, Sr., who gained national prominence a few weeks ago, when heavily armed policemen attempted to take him out of the capitol building, as their highest official there.
Opposition representative Rolex Suplico, who is nephew of Tupas, is with the breakaway LDP group of Ping Lacson.
Apparently, Sen. Frank Drilon and Tupas failed to mobilize people for the Feb. 28 rally. They had to cancel it, giving security threat as their lame excuse. To make up for the Iloilo fiasco, the LP in Roxas City, led by the LP matriarch, Judy Roxas, showed that Capiz is very much Roxas country.
Hmmm... maybe they're just sending a message. passive aggressive stuff.
Of course, the admin spinners were quick to pounce and GO's situation:
GO could at this point mean Getting Out, Unity Team deputy spokesman Tonypet Albano said Monday.
That’s because some of the candidates of the Genuine Opposition are considering leaving the team at this early stage of the campaign, Albano said.
Besides Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Senate President Manuel Villar and Rep. Noynoy Aquino are also planning to leave, he said during the weekly Kapihan ng Bayan Forum in Sulo Hotel.
“Team GO is now being abandoned by its members and they are now starting to panic, the reason why they decided to make some changes on their ranks,” Albano said.
I'll have more to say later.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment