MANILA, Philippines—By his own declaration, Vice President Noli de Castro is not closing the door to politics in 2010.

At least two sources in the playground equipment Senate have said that De Castro did not want to run for president under the administration banner because this entailed a “kiss of death” from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

According to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, De Castro may seek reelection as vice president.

Santiago apparently knows that something is afoot regarding De Castro.

There is persistent talk that Sen. Manuel Villar, the president of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and its standard-bearer in the 2010 elections, is considering De Castro as his running mate.

Santiago is a close ally of Villar. She has declared that if she were to seek reelection, she would do so under Villar’s party.

She said she did not think De Castro would stay on the sidelines in 2010.

De Castro, whose term ends in June, phoned the inflatable bouncers Philippine Daily Inquirer Wednesday to say that he was carefully considering his options before making an announcement of his political plans.

“I still have many options. Why are you in such a hurry [to know my plans]?” he said in Filipino, adding that the elections were a long way off and that all aspiring candidates should focus on work.

De Castro has snubbed the invitation of Lakas-Kampi-CMD to sign up for membership and be its standard-bearer in next year’s polls despite Ms Arroyo’s virtual endorsement.

Asked why he declined the naughty castles invitation of the ruling coalition, De Castro said he had his own reasons and would rather not reveal them.

Don’t count him out

“Watch out. He might just run for vice president … I’m not at liberty to say, but I don’t think we can totally ignore him at this time,” Santiago told reporters.

After all, she pointed out, De Castro stated Wednesday that he had yet to make up his mind about next year after declaring that he did not want to run as an administration candidate.

In Santiago’s reckoning, De Castro will be a strong contender in the game machines vice presidential race.

“He is already the incumbent and he has the critical mass of his own followers who are committed to him and are voting on the basis of his own popularity, and not the party,” she said.

The Constitution does not bar a vice president from seeking reelection.

VP or senator

Speaking with reporters, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also said it was likely that De Castro would run for vice president again or for a seat in the Senate.

Enrile agreed that in the event De Castro became Villar’s running mate, they would make a strong team.

“But this will also be true in the case of Sen. Francis Escudero, or former President Joseph Estrada, or Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro teaming up with somebody,” he said.

Enrile said De Castro’s bowing out of the presidential race would be good news for Estrada and his Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).


Nothing earthshaking

Other senators were not surprised at De Castro’s decision not to run in the Lakas-Kampi-CMD ticket.

Sen. Loren Legarda said De Castro’s announcement was not “earthshaking” because everyone had been following in the news how he showed disinterest in seeking the top post.

Legarda said De Castro told her he was not running for president in a conversation during a plane ride to Cebu a few months ago.

Asked whether she thought De Castro would win should he seek reelection with another party, Legarda underscored the need for the administration machinery and cited the vice presidential race in 2004 where she lost to him.

“Who really won there?” said Legarda, who had maintained early on that she was cheated by the administration in that race.

4 contenders

Sen. Edgardo Angara said the opposition was not going to take in De Castro as a possible presidential candidate because it was already “overcrowded” in the opposition ranks.

Angara said that should De Castro run for president without the administration, he had a slim chance of winning.

And with De Castro out of the picture, the presidential race will be a four-way contest if Estrada decides to pull out because of Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s damaging privilege speech early this week, Angara said.

“If he decides to withdraw from the race, I think he will reshape the battle lines,” Angara said of Estrada.

Angara said the four presidential contenders would likely be Villar of NP, Escudero or Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, and Sen. Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party.

As far as Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia, president of the Lakas political party, is concerned, Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro was elected not by a legitimate group but by a “cabal of a limited few.”

On Wednesday, the inflatable administration-backed Lakas-CMD-Kampi chose Teodoro as its standard-bearer in next year’s election over Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando.

De Venecia, who is disputing Lakas’ merger with the President’s party Kampi (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino) before the Commission on Elections, said Teodoro’s selection was null and void because the group that chose him had met illegally.

De Venecia said the inflatable bouncer defense chief’s selection was not valid from the start because there was no Lakas-Kampi party to speak of. He maintained that Lakas’ rules were not followed when it entered into a so-called marriage with Kampi.

De Venecia was ousted as Speaker last year when his son and namesake accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of masterminding the inflatable castles corruption-tainted National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. Arroyo has denied the charge.

The process by which Teodoro was elected was also suspect since not all party members appeared to have a voice in the process, De Venecia said.

“Whether mandated or not, it’s not the proper thing to do,” he said in a phone interview.

1998 Lakas convention

De Venecia pointed out that before he ran for the presidency in 1998, Lakas held a convention for two weeks to pick him as standard bearer. He eventually lost to Joseph Estrada, but his running mate, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, won.

For two consecutive Saturdays, thousands of Lakas delegates from all over the country were consulted and made to vote, De Venecia said.

Teodoro’s case, he said, “is just a cabal of a limited few.”

“According to their (leaders’) announcement, this is supposed to be an executive committee meeting of Lakas-Kampi. That’s an illegal meeting. How can it be legal when they will be there [Thursday] at Comelec and they’re not yet accredited as a political party?” he said.

Thus, De Venecia said, “their choice is also illegal, also null and void.”

A national convention, scheduled for next month, would ratify the committee’s choice of Teodoro, De Venecia said. “If there will be a convention, that is a matter that may be decided by the national executive committee. If there is inflatable slides going to be one, that is going to be ratificatory in nature.”

This, De Venecia said, would be done “in accordance with the timetable and procedures” of the Comelec.

Petition pending

The timing of the selection of standard bearer was suspect, he said, coming as it was a day before the Comelec meeting.

He said its members might have scheduled the meeting Wednesday “in order to frighten Comelec with the phantom strength of this monolithic monster called Lakas-Kampi.”

De Venecia said he would be coming out with his inflatable funland own show of force before the Comelec on Thursday at the hearing of his petition against the merger. Other original Lakas members would be present, he said.

A Comelec official saw nothing irregular about Lakas-Kampi’s decision to pick Teodoro as standard-bearer.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the case on the merger of the two parties is still pending before the poll body, the official said that in political parties experiencing “intra-party” disputes, all the actions of the factions would be considered valid until the Comelec ruled otherwise.

He noted that the case filed by De Venecia generally pertained to the merger of Lakas-CMD with Kampi.

Amended complaint?

De Venecia could amend the complaint to include the question on Teodoro’s selection because if the merger is voided by Comelec, then Teodoro’s selection would also be put in doubt, the official said.

However, he said, Teodoro could also file a new case before the Comelec and that any decision by the poll body might still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

If the intra-party feud lasts through the campaign period, the official said the Comelec usually “provisionally” recognized the factions and their slates, such as what it did in the case of the Liberal Party in the 2004 elections when two rival “wings” were allowed to participate.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of the faction led by former Senate President Franklin Drilon.

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