MANILA, Philippines -- Although he could have easily won a reelection bid to the Senate, Senator Richard Gordon said he decided to run for President to present to the public a strong candidacy.

Speaking to reporters and people who gathered around him when he joined a festival parade in Taytay, Rizal on Saturday afternoon, Gordon said: "The field is weak. This is why I ran."

He said, referring to other presidential aspirants: "There is someone who is very intelligent but who has no experience. There is a very rich man who will just recoup his campaign expenses if he wins. And there is someone who just inherited a good name."

Gordon and his running mate Bayani Fernando's team-up surprised many people when they filed their certificates of candidacy on the last day of filing in 2009. Fernando was earlier vocal about his plan to run for president.

Gordon said with presidential aspirants Senators Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar having three more years in their current Senate terms, they could still return to the Senate if they lost in the May polls. Gordon said he could not return, because his current Senate term will end on June 30, 2010.

Aquino and Villar got fresh six-year terms as senators in the 2007 national elections.

Gordon started on Sunday a five-day campaign caravan to go around towns in Pangasinan, Bataan, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija. He joined the Hamaka Festival in Taytay on Saturday.

Sought to comment on why no political party managed to complete a senate slate, Gordon said: "This shows that the parties have failed."

He said: "A party is an aggrupation of people with ideology and plan for government. There are no such parties anymore." He also frowned on many politicians who leapfrog from one party to another.

Gordon himself used to be a member of the Nacionalista Party, but he said he quit the party after Villar, its standard bearer, "bought" it.

Gordon, who is running under his Bagumbayan Party, said: "I don't want to be associated with somebody who buys his political party."

Bagumbayan has a local candidate in Taytay who invited Gordon to the festival. Jonathan Tablante is running for councilor.

Gordon counted few local candidates on the Bagumbayan ticket. He added that some mayors have signified intention to run under the party, but he admitted they could nt match the wide reach of the administration party supporting presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro.