Monday, August 06, 2007 Mongaya: Return of the LP-NP rivalry By Anol Mongaya Panahom
EVEN as early as the day Congress opened its current session, friends in Manila are already talking about the presidential aspirations of Senate President Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party and Sen. Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party.
Yesterday, a national daily featured this development. I’m sure this will work to the advantage of both Roxas and Villar, who, though evasive about 2010, are already unofficially considered presidential hopefuls.
Both Roxas and Villar are already positioning themselves on issues and rebuilding their once mighty political machines.
Supporters have put up “Roxas for president” blogs. He is also actively pushing various advocacies. On the other hand, friends with the right connect confided while I was in Manila the other week that GMA will back Villar. I think this is because of Villar’s success in breaking up the opposition in the Senate. But then, let’s see if Villar will push for the administration’s Sen. Joker Arroyo as head of the Blue Ribbon Committee. I’m sure the Palace will move heaven and earth to prevent Sen. Jinggoy Estrada or Sen. Ping Lacson from heading this committee.
I was still too young then when senate president Marcos, who was once a Liberal but switched to the Nacionalista Party, grabbed the presidency from president Diosdado Macapagal, GMA’s father, in 1965. In the 1969 elections, Marcos won an unprecedented second term in what was then the dirtiest political contest against the Liberal Party bet Serging Osmeña, Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s father.
To perpetuate himself in power, however, Marcos declared martial law and overhauled the whole political superstructure by building the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan and literally going after most liberal stalwarts like Ninoy Aquino, Serging and Serge Osmeña, the Roxases and the Lopezes.
Will the Villar and Roxas candidacies mean the return of the LP-NP rivalry? Don’t discount the interplay of other factors.
For instance, the biggest political bloc today is still the Lakas-NUCD of Speaker Joe de Venecia. Though not anymore a presidentiable, he could still try to maneuver for Charter Change and become prime minister. In due time, former president Fidel V. Ramos should issue statements that should give us an idea on how Lakas will position itself come 2010.
GMA loyalists in Lakas and Kampi will follow her lead. As of the moment, she may be rooting for Villar but what if he will carve an independent course if GMA’s popularity goes down further? After all, Villar was quoted as describing GMA as a lame duck president after the Sona.
Let’s not discount the Danding Cojuanco loyalists of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Senate top-notcher Loren Legarda belongs to NPC.
Other possible presidential aspirants are Sen. Ping Lacson, who definitely will play an active role in the present Senate, and Vice President Noli de Castro who belongs to the Senate Wednesday Group.
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It seems the silent protest at the port fizzled out during the last weekend of July. Import entries for cargo that arrived weeks earlier were filed perhaps for fear that these might be declared abandoned. Thus, District Collector Belmonte hit his July collection target. The appointment of a Cebuano to head the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group also helped ease tension at the ports.
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