Mar-Noynoy for 2010? LP has no tandem to field yet - Tañada

While some Liberal Party stalwarts have been thinking out loud on a possible tandem to field for the top electoral posts in 2010, a party member said on Saturday that the LP has not even played up the idea of any tandem at present. Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III of the LP told GMANews.TV that the party has not considered any tandem for the presidential and vice-presidential posts yet because only one of their members has declared his intention to run for the presidency. “Only Senator Mar (nickname of Manuel Roxas II) has declared his intention to run in 2010. So there is no truth to the statement that LP is divided on which tandem to field in the coming elections," he said. Tañada said that since Senator Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III has yet to declare his intention to seek elective office in 2010, LP is still “solid" behind one candidate. “Noynoy has not yet openly declared that he will run for any office. At this point, solid pa rin kami since we only have one choice – and that is Senator Mar Roxas for president," he said. LP stalwart and chairman-emeritus Jovito Salonga said on Thursday that it would be “good" for the party if Roxas will run for president with Noynoy as his vice president in 2010. [See: Salonga’s choice: Mar-Noynoy for 2010] Current LP chairman and former Senate President Franklin Drilon announced earlier that Roxas is the party’s standard-bearer. Mar should ‘make the sacrifice’ But another party stalwart, former senator Eddie Ilarde, said he and other LP members would like the tandem to be the other way around: Noynoy for president with Roxas as his running mate. Ilarde said he sent a letter to Drilon expressing his support for Noynoy for the presidency. “I honestly believe that Noynoy is supposed to continue what his parents have started through running for president," Ilarde told GMANews.TV. Noynoy is the only son of the late former senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., former member of the LP, and late President Corazon Aquino, who died early this month after battling colon cancer. Ilarde said that Senator Roxas should “make the sacrifice" and “slide to vice president" since his ratings are “not going up." “Mar is a nice person, but he is not going up in ratings. I have no motives. I am only looking at it from the sidelines, but someone should make the sacrifice - and that should be Mar," Ilarde said. LP director general Jose Luis Martin "Chito" Gascon earlier said the party is “open" to proposals to make Noynoy as its presidential candidate in the 2010 polls, following the burial of former President Aquino, which saw hundreds of thousands of Filipinos trooping to the streets to express their support for the Aquino family. [See: LP open to calls to make Noynoy its standard bearer] ‘Just an opinion’ Tañada said, however, that while his party respects what the former senator thinks, Ilarde’s statement is “just an opinion." “We welcome his opinion. He has not been a member of LP since 1971. Whatever comment he made is just a personal comment," he said. Moreover, Tañada said that it is still difficult at present to tell whether or not Noynoy is a viable candidate for president. “Noynoy has not officially declared his intention to run for an electoral position; he has not been included in surveys. It is really hard to say if there’s a clamor for him," Tañada said. If the basis would be the number of people who showed up in his mother’s funeral, we still have to test if this number will translate into votes," he added. - Andreo Calonzo, GMANews.TV