MANILA, Philippines?He?s not a balimbing (a local fruit with many sides); he?s loyal to only one President at a time.

The things that make him a more bankable contender for the vice presidency, according to Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, are his loyalty and enduring friendships with three Presidents who are not exactly fans of each other.

His secret to the lasting but ironic ties?serving one boss at a time.

?The thing is, I?ve remained friends with people who have not been friends,? Puno told the Inquirer over dinner on Tuesday, referring to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and ex-Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Estrada. He considers Jose Roño, Marcos? minister of local government and community development, his mentor.

?Erap and FVR were fighting but I?m friends with both of them. Erap and Gloria are fighting but I?m also friends with them,? said the political strategist, who was behind the successful campaigns of the last three Presidents.

When Estrada was catapulted to power in 1998 by winning the biggest electoral margin in Philippine history, he blamed his predecessor, Ramos, for the fumbling economy he had inherited.

Meanwhile, Ramos, who was elected President in 1992 with the thinnest of margins in history, was instrumental in Estrada?s ouster, joining hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in the so-called Edsa II that placed then Vice President Arroyo in the Presidential seat in 2001.

Brokering a pardon

More than six years later, Estrada was convicted of plunder by three Sandiganbayan magistrates, whom he claimed had been handpicked by Ms Arroyo to put him in jail.

But he was granted executive clemency with Puno, himself, brokering the pardon a couple of months later.

Ramos has also become Ms Arroyo?s most vocal critic, blasting the recent merger of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD administration party and her supposed plans to run for Congress with a Senate-less constituent assembly.

?If you ask them, the one thing they will tell you is that I was a loyal follower of all of them,? said Puno, who also served as Estrada?s interior secretary.

?Even if that sounds contradictory, it really isn?t because [I would serve] one boss at a time,? he continued, ascribing his unwavering relations with the three top leaders to his ability to distinguish ?the partisan from the fundamental issues.?

?I always know where I belong and where my responsibilities are,? he said, adding that he chose to run for vice president because he felt he could still play a key role whether it was Vice President Noli de Castro or Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. in the top post.

?I probably would still be given an important role and they would probably listen to my advice,? Puno said.

Selective memory

The administration is banking on the electorate?s selective memory to win votes come 2010.

Invoking the memory of deposed strongman Ferdinand Marcos, Puno said the administration party would trumpet its accomplishments to drown out expected talk of still unsettled scandals hounding President Arroyo?s nine-year reign.

?We?re going to be talking kilometers of roads, bridges that were built, the ports, the Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off ships), the economic policies that have taken root. That?s going to be our strong suit,? said Puno, who announced his intent to run for Vice President under the new Lakas-Kampi-CMD administration party.

What about the scandals? Hello Garci? NBN-ZTE?

?Well, again, that ?s really going to be the test, whether we can make performance more important than everything else that people are looking at,? he said.

Strategy

He likened this strategy to how millions of voters still favored candidates closely associated with the dictator despite his grim human rights? record.

?I?m not being an apologist for them,? said Puno, dodging objections from his audience.

?All I?m saying is ? when he (Marcos) was in power, in spite of the many problems with human rights, the one reason that people managed to quietly or tacitly or in whatever way live with this entire reality was there was a perception that there was actual progress in the infrastructure,? he said.

In 1992, or less than a decade since a popular revolt ended his authoritarian regime, Marcos? wife Imelda and businessman Danding Cojuangco Jr., a known supporter, separately ran for President but lost.

While they lost to Ramos? 5.3 million votes, the two still garnered a combined 6.4 million votes (4.1 million for Cojuangco and 2.3 million for Imelda), indicating that the strongman still had clout on the electorate.

Two themes

?I think everybody concedes the massacre of human rights during that time. But at the same time, if you go to provinces, it was the roads that were built during his (Marcos?) time that are still there. Half of our mass transit system was during his time ... You can see it really all the way to the south,? Puno said.

The political strategist said the administration?s game plan would play on credibility and performance?what he forecast as the ?the two main themes? in the next polls.

?That?s why you know, believe it or not, when we decide to run, we will be speaking about the performance record of the administration,? he said.