KBL wants Imelda to run under admin ‘unity ticket’

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor disclosed Friday that supporters of former first lady Imelda Marcos are now pushing for her inclusion in a unity senatorial slate being broached by Malacañang. In a radio interview, Defensor said Ilocos Norte Rep. Roque Ablan Jr. and several local executives from the Ilocos region wants Imelda to run in the May polls under a possible unity ticket. He said he learned of this following his meeting with Ablan, a member of Marcos political party Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL). “They are calling for a unity ticket slate. For me, this is not bad because it will promote reconciliation among EDSA 2 and EDSA 3 forces," Defensor said. Defensor, who himself intends to run for the Senate, had long been pushing for a unity slate composed of representatives of the administration and the opposition. Earlier this month, lawyer Oliver Lozano, a KBL stalwart, offered to run as representative in the unity ticket. In a letter to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Lozano assured that “there will be no strings attached," to the Lakas-KBL coalition. “The unity ticket will be an entry point to the use of the Marcos wealth to fund the infrastructures and other public welfare projects of the government," he said. Lozano, a personal lawyer of Mrs Marcos, has been a perennial candidate in senatorial elections but has not won any of them. Lozano twice filed an impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—the first in 2004 and the second in 2005. Both impeachment complaints—the first was combined with those lodged by opposition congressmen—were dismissed by the House of Representatives. - GMANews.TV