Binay daughter out, Aquino aunt to join UNA slate
-A A +AThursday, September 27, 2012
MANILA -- Doors have been shut for Vice President Jejomar Binay's daughter Nancy in the senatorial line-up of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in next year's midterm elections while a slot is being reserved for a relative of President Benigno Aquino III.
Owing to her father's popularity, Nancy immediately made it to the list of potential winners based on the August 31-September 7 survey of Pulse Asia. But Binay dismissed the poll results, saying his daughter will have her chance to join politics some other time.
"Thank you to those who have expressed trust in my eldest child but it’s too early (for her to run as senator)," Binay told reporters late Wednesday.
With Nancy out of the pool, UNA is now seriously considering former Tarlac Governor Margarita "Tingting" Cojuangco to complete the 12-man slate. Negotiations with Cojuangco's husband, Jose, are already 85 percent to 90 percent complete, Binay said.
Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, younger brother of the late President Corazon
Aquino, is a ranking member of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which teamed up with Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada to form UNA.
Tingting once eyed the vice gubernatorial post of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) but Aquino signed a law last year that synchronized the elections there to May 2013.
Aquino’s cousin Bam, meanwhile, was earlier reported to run for senator under the ruling Liberal Party.
UNA's line-up is composed of the following: Zambales Representative Mitos Magsaysay, businessman Joey de Venecia, Cagayan Representative Jack Enrile, Senator Gregorio Honasan II, Senator Loren Legarda, Senator Francis Escudero, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares, San Juan City Representative Joseph Victor Ejercito and former senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Ernesto Maceda and Richard Gordon.
Llamanzares and Legarda are guest candidates while Escudero is a common bet of UNA and the LP. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
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