Administration 2013 senatorial ticket may yet include PDP-Laban candidates

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino’s political adviser on Friday said the Chief Executive has not shut the door on candidates from Vice President Jejomar Binay’s PDP-Laban being included on the administration coalition’s senatorial ticket in 2013.

Secretary Ronald Llamas said Aquino only cited the difficulty of coming up with a slate that will include representatives from the Liberal Party and its coalition partners as well as those from the PDP-Laban.

Asked if the exclusion of PDP-Laban bets could have adverse effects on Aquino’s working relationship with Binay, Llamas said, “I don’t think there’d be any. And it’s still open-ended.”

“The President only mentioned the difficulties that he sees especially since PDP and LP were on opposing sides in the last elections,” Llamas said, referring to the political battle between Binay and Aquino’s running-mate, now Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

Roxas is the president of the LP.

PDP-Laban’s standard-bearer “was different in the last elections. Possibly they might also have a different one in 2016,” Llamas said.