MANILA, Philippines -- Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. is proposing a national convention of opposition parties to select a common presidential candidate to back in the 2010 elections.

At the same time, however, Pimentel admitted that at this stage, the unification of the opposition “looks like an elusive, if not impossible, goal because of the attitude of certain presidential aspirants that they will settle for nothing less than the number one slot.”

Among the parties identified with the opposition are the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, Nacionalista Party, Liberal Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition and Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Pimentel said these parties could send delegates to the convention on the basis of proportional representation, or form a unification council tasked with, among others, drawing up the criteria for the common presidential candidate, formulating the convention rules and determining the number of delegates each party is authorized to send.

The senator said the fielding of a common presidential bet would boost the opposition’s chances of winning the presidential race and return to power by preventing the splitting up of their votes.

This would also make it difficult for fraud operators to manipulate the results by padding the votes for the administration, he added.

“The failure of the minority to unite will give the administration a tremendous advantage in the presidential race because it is very likely that it will only have one presidential bet,” Pimentel pointed out.

Among the opposition politicians reportedly eyeing the presidency are Senators Manuel Villar, who has declared his intention to seek the office, Loren Legarda, Manuel Roxas II, Panfilo Lacson and Francis Escudero, and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay.

Former president Joseph Estrada has also said he might be compelled to run if opposition parties cannot agree on a common standard bearer.