MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Loren Legarda said she could be “Angelina Jolie” to Muslim rebels in conflict-torn Mindanao but sorry, there was no Brad Pitt waiting in the wings.

This was Legarda’s reaction to the appeal by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the Hollywood actress, who is also goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to negotiate a peace pact with the government after President Macapagal-Arroyo asked the United Nations to brand their rogue leaders as terrorists.

“Why not? I’ve said it before—politics is only secondary. What I really like to do is what Angelina Jolie is doing: Humanitarian work,” said Legarda when asked by reporters if she could be Jolie for the MILF.

Humanitarian heart

Legarda said if Jolie could help achieve the long-sought peace in Mindanao, she should be welcomed with open arms to the country.

“She has a humanitarian heart. She has adopted children from Cambodia and Africa. She might want to adopt an orphan from Mindanao. But it will be best to solve our problems by ourselves,” she said.

Still, Legarda was willing to fill in for Jolie. “I will agree to be like Angelina Jolie in her humanitarian work but there will be no Brad Pitt,” she said, referring to Jolie’s live-in partner, Hollywood actor who was named sexiest man alive by People magazine.

Legarda is separated from businessman, former Batangas Gov. Jose Antonio Leviste, with whom she has two children.

Green advocacy

While Jolie’s concerns are refugees, Legarda said her advocacy was for a “green” Philippines and providing support and refuge to battered women and abused children.

The senator pointed out that even before news that the MILF had asked for Jolie hit the front pages, she had already professed her desire to emulate the Oscar-winning actress.

“Not her celebrity [status but] her humanitarian ways. I don’t like politics that much,” said Legarda, widely believed to be gunning for the top post in the land in 2010.

While the opposition continues to maintain its hope of fielding a single candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, Legarda, a vocal Arroyo critic, has dashed the dream this early.

Opposition unity unlikely

“There have been many presidentiables from the opposition because there are just too many bright and ambitious candidates from our ranks. How can there be one? While it is unlikely that there will only be one opposition candidate, there is only one woman,” said Legarda.

She was reacting to Sen. Joker Arroyo’s comments that the upcoming probe on the double insertion of the P200-million

C-5 road project had doomed the opposition with opposition presidentiables like Legarda and Senators Mar Roxas and Panfilo Lacson ganging up on Senate President Manny Villar.

But Legarda pointed out that even before the double insertion issue cropped up, it was anticipated that the administration would face a field of several opposition candidates.