NPC chairman insists members were consulted about NP coalition

The chairman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) on Wednesday insisted that all the party members were consulted and informed about their coalition with the Nacionalista Party (NP). "A series of consultations was done with the members of the NPC... including the chapters and the incumbent congressmen and governors," said NPC chairman and former Isabela Governor Faustino Dy, Jr. during the continuation of the hearing of the NP-NPC petition for accreditation as dominant minority party. The NPC chairman issued the statement after Lualhati Antonino, a former member of the Lower House representing South Cotabato’s first district under NPC, told the Comelec en banc on Tuesday said that she was not informed of such a coalition with NP. The NPC's national convention did not authorize the party's central committee to allow the coalition, Antonino added. The national convention is the party’s highest policy-making body, while the central committee implements what has been agreed upon by the convention. Antonio said that she is a member of the national convention. She also said that even Mark Cojuangco, the son of NPC founder Danding Cojuangco, was surprised upon hearing the news. But Dy said that the consensus to go with the coalition was reached because they had consulted all the members. He said that they began the consultations when their then presidential bet Senator Francisco "Chiz" Escudero resigned from the party, leaving their vice presidential bet Senator Loren Legarda without a president to run under. However, the former governor admitted that he did not consult Antonino because the former lawmaker had already expressed her support for Liberal Party's (LP) presidential and vice presidential bets Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Manuel "Mar" Roxas. NPC will be fielding Legarda under NP presidential bet Manuel "Manny" Villar. "I did not consult her because I already knew her standing since last year... one of my executives recommended for her expulsion," he said. But he noted that they did consult Cojuangco about the coalition, though the NPC founder supposedly did not have a stand on the matter. "Yes, I consulted him... he is netutral," he said. LP, the NP-NPC Coalition, and the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) led by Joseph Estrada are all vying for the poll body’s nod to become the dominant minority party in May, entitling one of them to the sixth copy of the election returns (ERs) and a server which will show the election results as these are transmitted. But LP opposed the NP-NPC application, saying that the coalition was formed only last January 28, six months after the deadline for registration of political parties lapsed. NP, however, said that their application is valid because the coalition was entered into by two registered political parties. LP, for its part, said that the coalition was only formed to meet the poll body’s requirement that the dominant minority party should field the most number of candidates in the national and local elections. Comelec records show that LP will be fielding 5,934 candidates in the May polls while NP will be fielding 5,565 and NPC 2,373. LP campaign manager Butch Abad also said that 15 congressional districts have both NP and NPC candidates facing off against each other. The same is true in 13 provinces where both parties fielded gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial candidates against each other and in 170 municipalities where both parties' mayoralty and vice mayoralty bets are up against each other. Moreover, the LP said that not all the NPC stalwarts and candidates support Villar's candidacy. The poll body has yet to decide on the petition for accreditation. Meanwhile, administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD has likewise filed a petition for accreditation as the dominant majority party, which is entitled to the fifth copy of the ERs. Lakas-Kampi claims to have a total of 10,418 incumbent members. Republic Act 9369 or the amended Poll Automation Law requires the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines to print 30 copies of the ERs, which indicate the election results at the precinct level. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV