MANILA, Philippines—Several congressmen, some unhappy with the merger between the two ruling parties, Lakas-CMD and Kampi and some buoyed by the improvement of the survey ratings of Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, are preparing to make a leap to the Liberal Party (LP), two members of the party said.
Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas said that about 10 former LP members are thinking of returning to the party because they do not approve of the merger of the country’s two biggest political parties. The merger would make the race at the local level all the more crowded among aspirants, Mandanas said quoting some of the former LP members.
Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tanada III confirmed this.
”There are around 10 who mentioned at the proper time they would come back,” he said in a text message when asked.
LP has 20 members in the House of Representatives.
In 2007, it was rocked by division between those supporting the faction of Franklin Drilon and those backing Jose Atienza, who supports the administration. A number of those belonging to the Atienza faction left the LP and transferred to either Lakas-CMD or Kampi.
Tanada added that they are also expecting five to 10 more congressmen from other parties “holding talks with the leadership.”
Tanada said these congressmen are looking at the survey ratings of Roxas, LP president and potential presidential candidate, in the coming days.
”We expect more congressmen to talk to the leadership as soon as they notice the improvement of Senator Roxas,” he said.
In the survey of Pulse Asia among 1,200 adults conducted from May 4 to 17 for their choice of the next president, 18 percent rooted for Vice President Noli De Castro; 17 percent selected Senator Francis Escudero; 15 percent went for former President Joseph Estrada; 14 percent preferred Senator Manuel Villar; and 13 percent picked Roxas.
Given the survey's margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, the five politicians are in a statistical tie.
Roxas posted a 5-percentage-point improvement from the 8 percent recorded in February.
