Unfortunate time for Loren

EDITORIAL

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10/25/2009

Sen. Loren Legarda was with President Arroyo the other day for the signing of the Climate Change Act and on the same day she made her bizarre announcement of seeking the vice presidency without being clear about the person with whom she’s running.

The curious becomes curiouser since prior to Legarda’s strange declaration, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno stated his withdrawal from his vice presidential bid.

Malacañang has been floating for the past few weeks a tandem between administration standard bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and Legarda.

The lady senator, as all know, is expected to be the running mate of Sen. Francis Escudero since both belong to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) party of founder business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.

Danding, however, has retired from politics for sometime now.

Legarda kept coy about her true intent and instead seemed only too willing to fan a guessing game on her 2010 partner by dropping the names of political leaders who she said were arduously wooing her.

An off the wall press release from her camp was that Escudero or the NPC was courting her as the partner for Chiz since he was her logical partner from the start until Legarda appeared to show misgivings about Escudero being chosen as the preferred party standard bearer instead of her, shades of what Teodoro, a former NPC stalwart, underwent, which move prompted his decision to jump ship.

But there was also the denial of Teodoro to give courtesy that was due not only to the NPC officials but also its members.

It has been said that Teodoro never bothered to inform the NPC of his presidential plans, including his plan to bolt the party and have himself sworn in as an administration party member.

There was also that constant whisper about a team up with former President Joseph Estrada, in a bid for the former President to consider the possibility since it is known, despite the other opposition bets still being in denial, that Estrada still is a formidable political force.

What astounded most was Loren’s insistence that she is staying put in the NPC even if she skips party consensus on the bets it will field for next year’s elections.

By the looks of it, Legarda may be angling for a common candidate run in which she will still have NPC’s backing while she makes up her mind with whom she is to partner for the presidential 2010 polls.

Unfair though it may be, the reality is that the 2010 polls are just not the right time for her to aspire for the presidency on account of her being a woman.

This is not being sexist at all. She suffers from a gender problem at this time, given the fact that for the past eight years, the country has been governed by a woman president, who moreover, failed to bring about good government, and worse, brought untold misery upon misery to the Filipino people.

Legarda just didn’t stand a chance of bagging the presidency after the disaster of a nation having a Gloria Arroyo in Malacañang.

Legarda’s frustrated bid for the vice presidency in the 2004 elections which she says was stolen from her by Vice President Noli de Castro, the same way that Gloria cheated then opposition standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr., may have clouded her political perspective wherein she now considers victory should be achieved at all costs.

That was the same philosophy that carried Gloria all the way to Malacañang and Loren appears to be showing the same flip-flopping character that was patently Arroyo.

At a time when the nation is fed up with Gloria’s indecision that is concealed by showmanship and braggadocio, Loren’s waffling is not doing her any good.

Her insistence that she will remain with the opposition while flirting with the administration could reveal the same ambitions that made Gloria the most reviled president in history.

Gloria, it will be recalled, was first attached to the Liberal Party, then ran as a presidential candidate under Kampi, and when, in 1998, her funding and ratings floundered, she opted to run for the vice presidency under the Ramos-De Venecia ticket, becoming a Lakas official.

As everyone now knows, Gloria and her elite civil society, couldn’t wait for her electoral turn in 2004 for the presidency. She and her civil socialites, who were just as hungry for power and position as she was, grabbed power unconstitutionally.

Perhaps this is what the electorate fear: A repeat of 2001, which may make this enough reason for any presidential aspirant to feel uneasy in her presence.

Unfortunate, but true.

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