Villar running mate, senatorial bets out in 10 days

The Nacionalista Party will reveal Senator Manuel Villar Jr.'s running mate and the party's senatorial slate in the 2010 elections within 10 days, the party's spokesperson said Monday. In a phone interview with GMANews.TV, Gilbert Remulla said the announcement will definitely come before the start of the filing of certificates of candidacy for all elective positions on November 20, and the party may do away with the traditional approach of proclaiming national candidates via a proclamation rally. "It [announcement] may be through a national executive meeting but it will all depend on the party [higher ups]," Remulla said. Party executives have kept mum on disclosing Villar's running mate, amid speculations that the NP and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) have agreed to coalesce in next year's elections. [See: NP, NPC mum on possible Villar-Legarda tandem] Such coalition, if true, would pair Villar with Senator Loren Legarda, who is the NPC vice presidential. A GMA News report said Remulla merely smiled when asked of the Villar-Legarda tandem. The other NP spokesperson, Adel Tamano, had earlier said the NP senatorial slate will include him, Remulla, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto, Senator Pia Cayetano, and Ilocos Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. Marcos had also confirmed that he would be a guest senatorial candidate of the United Opposition under former President Joseph Estrada. Other party insiders said Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and detained Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin are also being considered in the NP senatorial ticket.
In the television report, Remulla said Villar's camp is not worried about the good survey showings of the Liberal Party tandem of Senator Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III and Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, saying the NP has the "communications strategy" and the "machinery" to win in next year's polls. Political figures formerly aligned with the Arroyo administration such as Governors Luis Raymund Villafuerte (Camarines Sur), Rogelio Espina (Biliran), Douglas Cagas (Davao del Sur), and Robert Ace Barbers (Surigao del Norte) have recently jumped ship to the NP. According to the NP website, the party has two members in the Senate, Villar and Alan Peter Cayetano. It has about 10 members in the House of Representatives but only a handful of members elected into local office. But funding will surely be no problem, mainly because of the party's standard bearer himself. Villar is a self-made billionaire who ranked ninth in Forbes' list of the 40 richest people in the Philippines for 2009, with a net worth of $530 million. His television ads depicting his rags-to-riches story have been airing since last year, making him one of the biggest early spenders for the upcoming polls. [See: Politicians test the power of advocacy ads] - GMANews.TV