Admin standard bearer known Sept 15 - Palace exec

The ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party will announce its standard bearer for the upcoming 2010 presidential elections on September 15, a Palace official said Friday. Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio made this disclosure even as he added that Vice President Noli de Castro would also be deciding on his political plans by middle of this month. "“[The] vice president gave himself until mid September to decide on [the 2010] polls. Meanwhile, Lakas [is set ] to decide on the standard bearer on September 15 so [there would be] enough time," Claudio told reporters in a text message. Just recently, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo heaped praises on De Castro, describing the latter as someone who would make a "good president." Last week, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde read to reporters a message from President Arroyo praising De Castro: "The party, the Cabinet and I regard Vice President Noli de Castro as a leader imbued with decency, capability, dedication to public service and genuine sensitivity for the Filipino masses that will make him a good president." The incident fueled speculations that De Castro would most likely be the administration's standard bearer in the 2010 polls. De Castro, however, is not a member of the ruling party. He has also yet to announce his political plans for next year's polls. Claudio hinted De Castro would most likely come up with his decision on September 14. But lawyer Dale Zapata, a communication officer of De Castro, said the vice president has not made any formal announcement that he was giving himself until mid-September to decide whether to bite Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s invitation to join the party. Zapata said De Castro could not be contacted since he is currently "busy" attending to a housing project in Cagayan province. Metro Manila Development Development chairman Bayani Fernando, a presidential aspirant and a member of the administration party, earlier said the "deadline" that the Palace had given to De Castro was July 30. Fernando said the date had already expired without De Castro accepting the offer, thus leaving him and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro as the only rightful options to become the party’s standard bearer. But Fernando said he has a lead over Teodoro, saying a Pulse Asia survey on preferential presidential bets for 2010 ranked him higher than the defense chief. Fernando earned a 1-percent rating while Teodoro got 0.2-percent in the last Pulse Asia survey. But the two were a distant eighth and 13th, compared with De Castro who ranked third in the same survey. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV