MANILA, Philippines—Only President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can save the ruling party from certain disintegration by running for the No. 2 position in next year’s elections.

Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said that some of the members of Lakas-Kampi-CMD believed that Ms Arroyo had the power to stop the desertions and provide Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, the party’s standard-bearer, with the best odds of winning.

“It will be easy to raid Lakas-Kampi, if Gibo does not improve his ratings soon. But Arroyo can change all of that by running as his vice president because members will then think they can win it all and stay put,” Suarez said in a phone interview.

Ms Arroyo is also rumored to be gunning for a congressional seat in her hometown Pampanga next year with an eye on becoming the House Speaker and spearheading moves in Congress to amend the Constitution.

“But this plan will only pan out if Gibo wins. So we believe that only by running for vice president can she ensure the unity of the party and its continued dominance in the next administration,” Suarez said.

He said the ruling coalition would hold an executive committee meeting on Wednesday where he would raise his proposal. The President will preside over the meeting, which would also tackle the party’s national convention on Nov. 19.

Greatly exaggerated

“We have to be pragmatic in politics. If the President herself is the best one for the job, why not her? She is still young and she knows that it’s hard to take politics out of her system that easy. If she is really perceived to be as unpopular as her critics claim, why are they afraid of her running?” Suarez said.

But Suarez and other party officials said that talk of the ruling coalition’s demise at this point was greatly exaggerated.

Suarez saw the movements in the political arena as realignments rather than defections.

“We are the biggest party in the land and naturally we will have candidates in all areas, including those where we have rival members. Those who are not chosen will go to another party, that is just how politics is,” he said.

Reggie Velasco, Lakas-Kampi executive director, said that the party would rather have members in the local level who would support its national ticket rather than have members who were torn between their party and their old loyalties.

“Lakas and Kampi are relatively new parties and most of our members are either Liberal or Nacionalista before and they are perceived to have the front-runners for 2010. We believe we can have 50 percent of all incumbent congressmen, governors, and mayors on our side by 2010 and that will still be formidable,” Velasco said.

‘Bigger, stronger’

Ray Roquero, another Lakas-Kampi executive director, shrugged off the reported massive defections to the Liberal Party (LP) and Nacionalista Party (NP).

“There’s no exodus. On the contrary, we are getting bigger and stronger because of the entry of more incumbent representatives, governors and mayors,” Roquero said in a text message. He said those who had jumped ship were “insignificant.”

The former LP lawmakers were Representatives Alvin Sandoval (Malabon Navotas), Magtanggol Gunigundo (Valenzuela), Mary Mitzy Cajayon (Caloocan), Glen Chong (Biliran), Reynaldo Uy (Western Samar), Rodolfo Valencia (Oriental Mindoro), Solomon Chungalao (Ifugao), and Jose Antonio Roxas (Pasay City).

Roquero expected Representatives Benjamin Agarao (Laguna), Paul Daza (Samar) and Arthur Pingoy (South Cotabato) to follow suit.

From the local government, Governors Jose Antonio Carrion (Marinduque), Jum Akbar (Basilan) and Jurdin Jesus Romualdo (Camiguin) are expected to further boost the ruling party’s ranks. “Nothing to worry about,” Roquero said.

Defections strictly local

Administration officials Sunday admitted the existence of such an exodus, but maintained that it had nothing to do with the upcoming presidential race or Teodoro’s poor survey results.

“The problem is not Gibo. These defections are strictly local,” said Mayor Ramon Guico, president of the League of Municipalities in the Philippines.

Gabriel Claudio, Lakas-Kampi secretary general, admitted that the party was expecting more members to transfer to rival parties.

But he insisted that such movements were the “natural and expected consequences of party intramurals and fall outs from the party’s selection process for local candidates.”

Claudio also cried foul over the reported defection of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Cavite Gov. Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi to the LP.

He said that Lim was a resigned member of Joseph Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilpino while Maliksi was an LP member to begin with. (Maliksi ran under the administration’s banner in the 2007 elections.)

In a text message, Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco, denied that he had defected to the LP, saying “I will remain loyal to my party and support our official candidates.”