12 January 2008
By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. in Manila
and Ephraim Aguilar in Southern Luzon
HERE’S A TIP FOR show biz celebrities planning to enter politics: Don’t.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson has advised movie and television personalities not to aspire for public office in 2010 because their show biz magic has waned as seen in the last two elections.
“Artists [from the entertainment industry] have lost their magic. FPJ (Fernando Poe Jr.) is the last. I don’t see any successor,” Lacson said yesterday in a press conference. “After him, movie stars were never the same again.”
Noli-Vilma tandem
Lacson was reacting to reports that Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos, one of the country’s most popular actresses, could be a possible running mate of Vice President Noli de Castro when the latter runs for president in 2010.
Aside from Santos, Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, both movie actors, are also being groomed as candidates for vice president in 2010.
Lacson said the poor showing of celebrities in the last elections, both national and local, was proof that switching from show biz to politics didn’t always work out.
Actors Cesar Montano and Richard Gomez also fared poorly in the 2007 senatorial elections, failing to translate their popularity into votes.
Poe, in his first and only shot at politics in 2004, lost by a million votes to President Macapagal-Arroyo, who has yet to disprove allegations of manipulating the election results.
Trial balloons
Some sectors, including former President Joseph Estrada, had claimed that Poe could have won, even with the alleged cheating, had the opposition taken a united front in 2004.
Lacson, who ran for president that same year, has disputed Estrada’s claims.
Lacson has also declared his intention to run for president in 2010, depending on his ranking in the surveys.
“All of the possible candidates in 2010 are just trial balloons or posturings. We will continue to rely on our surveys at least until the end of this year to help us make our final decision,” Lacson said. “If I am not in the top five in the surveys, I will not run even if 2010 is important for me because this is my last term. Campaigns are very tiring.”
While he has not held any discussions with a potential running mate, Lacson cited Sen. Jamby Madrigal as a possible partner.
“Jamby will make a good vice president because she has been consistently with the opposition,” he said.
Lakas talks with Legarda?
In Legazpi City, Sen. Loren Legarda said yesterday she would not return to the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), the party she belonged to when she topped the 1998 senatorial elections.
Ray Roquero, executive director of the Lakas-CMD, said there were ongoing “private and informal” talks between the party and Legarda’s camp.
He said some of the Lakas leaders were very supportive of Loren rejoining the party.
Lawyer Raul Lambino confirmed in a story published in the Inquirer on Wednesday that negotiations were ongoing between Lakas and Legarda.
This was denied by Legarda, who was in Albay province yesterday for a roundtable discussion with local leaders, academicians, and environmentalists on climate change.
No, thank you
“I am flattered and happy [with the invitation to return to Lakas] but there are no talks, private or informal,” she said. “I am with the NPC-opposition, I shall stay with [the party] until 2010 but I thank the other parties for always considering me as a strong presidential contender.”
Next to former Sen. Jovito Salonga who topped the senatorial elections three times, Legarda is the only candidate to land No. 1 in the senatorial race twice. She is seen as a major contender in the 2010 presidential race.
She told local leaders in Albay that she would spend the next 24 months serving the people and addressing urgent needs before thinking about the presidency.
At the roundtable discussions yesterday, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, a known ally and economic adviser of President Macapagal-Arroyo, introduced Legarda as the “future president of the Philippines” eliciting some noise from the audience.
‘She will win’
Asked what he thought of Legarda, Salceda said, “I think she will run and I think she will win.”
The Lakas leaders’ pronouncements on Legarda came in the wake of deposed President Estrada’s invitation to Vice President De Castro to join the opposition, which is bursting at the seams with viable presidential candidates.
De Castro, who ran with President Macapagal-Arroyo and who has remained loyal to her, is considered the strongest administration presidential candidate to date. But he remains an independent.
Asked to comment on De Castro’s tag as the strongest administration presidential candidate to date, Legarda said, “Well, good luck to everybody who wants to run.”
Tight race
De Castro and Legarda were in a tight race for vice president in 2004.
The Nacionalista Party is pushing its president, Senate President Manuel Villar while the Liberal Party is promoting its president, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, as possible standard-bearers of the administration party.
Both, however, are identified with the opposition even as their respective parties are members of the administration coalition in the House.
Lakas is slated to hold a national directorate meeting on Monday and Tuesday to discuss its plans for 2010.
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