Thursday, May 17, 2007 Maxey: After 2007 comes 2010 By Ram Maxey Bar None
ELECTION 2007 is over except for the counting. The once boiling political pot has simmered down, but will remain that way for a while and not completely cool off.
There's a reason for that. Some of the winning senatorial candidates will need to take stock of their resources in anticipation of what is coming next.
What do I mean by 'what's coming next'? The presidential election of 2010. There's a good number of senators with presidential ambitions.
That's the reason, too, for the race among them to be No. 1 or topmost on the totem pole. Being No. 1 can bolster one's chances to become Senate president, a good position from which to launch one's presidential ambition into orbit.
Everyone knows that billionaire Senate President Manuel Villar of the Genuine Opposition has been eyeing the presidency ever since he became a senator.
In one of his campaign sorties here I asked Villar pointblank if he wanted to become president of the country. He didn't say "yes", he didn't say "no". He didn't even say "maybe". He did hedge by saying, "Well...er..ah..who doesn't want to be president?" Villar's body language told me he wants to be president.
Aside from Villar, Loren Legarda wants to be president, too. She had been consistently No. 1 in the surveys and could very well top the senate race which will put her in a position to run for Senate president.
Having lost, for all intents and purposes, her electoral protest against Vice President Noli de Castro, Legarda could even do one better on Noli by becoming president if her luck holds out.
Then there's Senator Panfilo Lacson who seems to be firmly entrenched somewhere in the middle of the pack. How he would love to become president after losing to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the controversial 2004 elections.
Another logical aspirant is Francis Pangilinan who, despite running as an independent, had been among the frontrunners in the surveys, boosted no doubt by the fact that he is married to very popular movie actress Sharon Cuneta. But he would need to run under a political party if he expects to win.
However, all the above-mentioned presidential aspirants will have to contend with the man who topped the Senate race in 2004 -- Manuel "Mar" Roxas. Mar hit the jackpot with his unique monicker "Mr. Palengke" (Mr. Market) and the fact that wherever he went during his campaign he always made it a point to drop by public markets to talk with the stallholders and customers.
He would make a formidable presidential candidate, helped along by the fact that he is the son of the late Senator Gerry Roxas, son of the late President Manuel A. Roxas after whom Mar was named.
But Mar would have to first get himself a wife. An unmarried President would be the most eligible bachelor in the country and would surely attract too many women aspiring to become the First Lady in Malacañang. That's too much of a distraction for a bachelor President. Any prospect out there?
