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MANILA -- Only eight of the 13 candidates of the People Power
Coalition (PPC) will be supported by Iglesia ni Cristo (INC)
members voting as a bloc this May 14 elections.
A
ranking official of the church relayed this development to
Malacañang on Wednesday, or a day after reports came
out that the INC would be junking nine senatorial candidates
of the administration.
Presidential
Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao, in a radio interview, expressed
Malacañang's disappointment over the INC decision to
support only eight and not all the 13 PPC candidates.
Malacañang,
he said, will try to persuade the INC to reconsider its decision.
A
source at the Palace who requested anonymity revealed that
the INC's "change of heart" followed President Arroyo's
closed-door meeting with Executive Minister Eraño Manalo
at the group's central office in Quezon City last Tuesday.
Supporting
Manalo
will be asking members of the INC to vote for PPC senatorial
candidates Joker Arroyo, Franklin Drilon, Juan Flavier, Manuel
Villar, Francis Pangilinan, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Wigberto
Tañada and Ernesto Herrera.
On
the other hand, the group will be supporting independent candidate
Noli de Castro, Pwersa ng Masa senatorial candidates Loi Ejercito,
Edgardo Angara, Panfilo Lacson and Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
The
list of the candidates the INC will be backing in the May
elections was given to the Palace official shortly after the
executive meeting between Arroyo and Manalo at 11 a.m.
The
INC came up with a new list after Manalo discussed with its
members what transpired during his meeting with the President,
the Palace official added.
The
names are different from those that appeared in the list released
by the INC on Tuesday.
Tiglao
said Malacañang respects the INC's decision. "But
we will appeal to them that if that's the final slate, we
will do all our efforts to convince the church hierarchy to
reconsider their choices," Tiglao said.
Dropping
Before
the executive meeting between Arroyo and Manalo on Wednesday,
the INC was supposed to endorse former executive secretary
Angara, Santiago, Lacson, Ejercito, de Castro, Honasan, Puno
and Enrile.
To
be able to accommodate three more candidates of the PPC, the
INC is dropping from its list Honasan, Puno and Enrile.
The
INC had initially decided to support only Arroyo, Villar,
Pangilinan, Magsaysay and Flavier from the People Power Coalition.
After the executive meeting, the group added Tañada,
Herrera and Drilon to its list.
The
President apparently succeeded in impressing Manalo that her
administration was committed to completing programs for the
poor and that she would need the PPC candidates to help her
carry out this mission, the official said.
No
money was involved in Manalo's change or heart, the source
at the Palace assured.
Quoting
the official who provided the list, the INC is backing Loi
primarily due to Manalo's longtime friendship with deposed
president Joseph Estrada, the Palace source said. (Sunnex)
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