Lakas-Kampi eyes 'adopting' Miriam, Enrile, Sotto

Barely a month before the elections, the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party is planning to “adopt" three more senatorial candidates aside from the original six bets included in its slate, party officials said Friday. Lakas-Kampi national chairperson Rep. Amelita Villarosa told GMANews.TV in a phone interview on Friday that there have been talks within the party’s executive committee to endorse three more senatorial aspirants. Villarosa said the proposal to “adopt" more senatorial bets was raised during the meeting of Lakas-Kampi officials last Tuesday. She however refused to name the three senatorial aspirants, since she is still “getting the consensus" of party members especially at the local level. “Sa ngayon, kinukuha ko pa ang opinyon ng lahat. Ang dami kasi namin. Nagtatawag pa ako (As of now, I am still getting everybody's opinion. That’s because we are so numerous. I’m still calling them up)," Villarosa said. The administration party chairperson however hinted that the candidates they plan to “adopt" are “well-known senatorial giants" who have made it to the top 12 in various pre-election senatorial preference surveys. “In fact, even without us, they are already ‘winnable’," she said. Lakas-Kampi currently has six senatorial candidates in its slate, which include Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., Sen. Lito Lapid, broadcaster Rey Langit, former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Mayor Ramon Guico of Binalonan, Pangasinan, and lawyer Raul Lambino. In a separate phone interview, Lakas-Kampi secretary-general Raymundo Roquero told GMANews.TV that the ruling party is considering the “adoption" of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, and former senator Vicente Sotto III. Like Villarosa, Roquero said the selection of senatorial bets to endorse is not yet final and is still “up to the local level." He likewise said the three senatorial aspirants are being considered because they have “many friends in the party" and because of their clout in different parts of the country. “Politics is always addition. These candidates have a lot of loyalists, which might help our standard-bearer, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., get more votes during the elections," Roquero said. He added that these candidates, once “adopted," will not receive any funding from the ruling party but will be “endorsed" to local officials. “Tumutulong lang kami. Wala silang hinihingi na kahit ano. (We're just helping them out. They are not asking for anything.) We will just include them in our advocacies and probably include them in sample ballots we will print," he said. Defensor-Santiago stated in her certificate of candidacy filed before the Commission on Elections last November that she is a guest candidate of the ruling party. She is also guest candidate for five other parties. (See: Miriam seeks reelection under 6 parties, endorses no president) Enrile is included in the senatorial ticket of deposed President Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, while Sotto is running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).—JV, GMANews.TV