MANILA, Philippines ? Edu Manzano?s decision to run as the vice presidential candidate of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD caught the Liberal Party (LP) flatfooted.

?We were surprised,? LP campaign manager Butch Abad said, adding that Manzano was supposed to have been listed already among the party?s nine senatorial aspirants. (Its complete 12-member slate will be announced before Nov. 30.)

?We were aware that Manzano was getting overtures from Lakas, [but] we continued talking to him,? Abad said.

Nevertheless, Sen. and LP president Mar Roxas wished Manzano well.

?Best of luck to Edu in 2010. Welcome to national politics. He is a worthy opponent,? said Roxas, who is himself seeking the vice presidency.

?I trust that Filipinos will choose their candidates based on a strong platform for real change,? he said.

?Good man?

Ousted President Joseph Estrada had also earlier named Manzano among the 12 persons running for senator in the ticket of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino led by himself and his running mate, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

But he said Manzano was a ?good man? whom he had known for a long time.

?He is qualified to run for the second highest position in the land,? Estrada said during the Davao del Norte leg of his ?Lakbay Pasasalamat? sortie.

Binay, who was with Estrada in Tagum City, said Manzano?s entry into the vice presidential race was ?welcome.?

He also said in a phone interview that voters would have a bigger variety of choices with the addition of Manzano.

Still, he expressed surprise at Manzano?s move.

Said Binay?s spokesperson Lito Anzures: ?It is also good that this early, we can identify those who will stand by their principles and those who can be swayed by political pressure and enticements.?

?Exciting race?

Sen. Manny Villar, the standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party (NP), said it would be an ?exciting? vice presidential race with the entry of Manzano.

Villar has yet to identify his own running mate, whom he described as ?popular? and ?good.? He said he would make the announcement, along with the NP senatorial slate, next week.

He declined to answer when asked if Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People?s Coalition was it.

Legarda, herself a declared vice presidential aspirant, said she was glad that administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro had found a ?suitable? running mate.

She described Manzano as a ?gentleman? and said she ?sincerely? wish the tandem well.

?Show biz lineup?

In Baguio City where he addressed a convention of cooperatives in the Cordillera, Senate Majority Floor Leader Miguel Zubiri said he hoped the Teodoro-Manzano tandem would boost the stock of the administration slate in 2010.

Zubiri said Manzano?s nomination as the ruling party?s vice presidential candidate completed its ?show biz lineup.?

He added: ?It?s an exciting tandem. They?re both handsome men. Add to the mix Sen. Bong Revilla, who is leading our senatorial slate. It?s truly show biz glamour.?

Zubiri?s earlier planned nomination as Teodoro?s running mate was briefly discussed at the convention.

?They offered me the vice presidency but I was too busy at the Senate,? he said, adding that he declined the nomination during a Thursday forum with President Macapagal-Arroyo and party leaders at Malacañang.

Zubiri said the party leadership accepted his decision because he had ?something important to do next week?[shepherding] the 2010 national budget through Congress.?

The Palace has been pushing a P115-billion General Appropriations Act on an election year.

Part of shortlist

Manzano had been shortlisted along with Zubiri, Revilla, Legarda and former Sen. Vicente Sotto III as a possible vice presidential candidate, according to Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan.

A member of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD national executive committee, Domogan said Manzano had to be formally affirmed by the party assembly on Nov. 19.

Unless there are ?exceptional reasons? working against Manzano, he would likely get the assembly?s endorsement, Domogan said.