MANILA -- Former public works secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. formally declared Sunday his intention to run for president in the 2010 elections under the banner of the Philippine Labor and Peasant Party (PLPP).

Speaking before the PLPP (formerly known as Lapiang Manggagawa party) convention at the historic Manila Hotel on Sunday, Ebdane said he already sought endorsement of former President Fidel V. Ramos.

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Ebdane was Ramos’s former aide in the military service since 1972.

“I hope and pray that he [Ramos] will endorse me, he is credible,” he said at the sidelines of the party’s 46th founding anniversary.

Ebdane, on the same occasion, was installed as the new chairman of the renamed party.

“I fight to win so there’s no turning back. I have crossed the bridge. I have no intention of going back,” Ebdane said after accepting his party’s nomination.

He added: “In my four decades in public service, where service 24/7 is the key to getting the job done, I realized that although I have helped to do much for our country, there is much more than needs to be done.”

“And with accumulated experience and know-how, I believe I can stand as the candidate with the first-hand working knowledge of how government really works and the track record to get things done,” he said.

Ebdane said his political agenda will focus on peace and order, national security, defense, public works, pillars of growth and development.

He said he is bent on propagating discipline to the public to bring back orderliness and encourage law-abiding citizens.

“Secretary Ebdane understands the plight of the common man…People in the province tells us how Ebdane has helped them and he did this without fanfare,” Jose Malvar Villegas, PLPP president, said in October.

Villegas said his group has three million members that could help support the candidacy of Ebdane.

The group was created since 1963 and it was considered the third oldest political party next to the Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Party.

The group also supported the candidacy of former President Ramos in 1992.

It was reported that some 15 governors in Mindanao have already pledged support to Ebdane’s candidacy, namely: Surigao del Sur Governor Vicente Pimentel Jr., Governor Leo Ocampos of Misamis Occidental, and Lanao Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong.

Months before Ebdane announced his political plans, several print advertisements were placed in various national newspaper saying “Di kaya si Ebdane ang Tamang Daan sa 2010?”

The paid advertisements featuring Alimodian, Iloilo Mayor Juanito Alipao and Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte Mayor Norbi Edding show the bridges from both provinces and the school building in Sta. Cruz, Angat Bulacan that were built under Ebdane’s term as public works chief.

Ebdane resigned from his post at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) last October 21, 2009. He was appointed to the post in July 4, 2004.

Ebdane is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class of 1970, and has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) from the Mapúa Institute of Technology. He was the 10th Philippine National Police (PNP) director general serving from July 2002 to 23 August 2004.

After serving as the chief of the PNP, Ebdane was named National Security Adviser, a post he held from August 2004 to February 2005. He later served as secretary of the Department of National Defense. He was re-appointed to the DPWH in February 2007. (FP/Sunnex)