MANILA, Philippines — Crying double-cross, former Sen. Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III said on Thursday he is abandoning his quest for a Senate seat under the Liberal Party (LP) in the upcoming elections and is running as an independent in protest over the inclusion of former Socioeconomic Secretary Ralph Recto in its senatorial lineup.

“That is almost final,” Osmeña said in an interview Thursday night, denouncing a “Mafia” in the party of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and disappointment at “infighting” in its ranks.

Osmeña explained that he did not want Recto in the LP lineup, calling him “pro-GMA” for doing nothing to expose shenanigans in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration as head of the National Economic and Development Authority.

He said he had told LP officials he would no longer be a part of the party with Recto in it.

Recto and his wife, Vilma Santos, a multi-awarded movie actress and Batangas governor, defected from the administration coalition earlier this week to join the LP. He had sought reelection as a senator in the 2007 balloting with the administration coalition but lost.

Osmeña said he told LP general campaign manager Florencio Abad twice and his assistant, Rapa Lopa, once about his position on Recto.

The former senator said he felt he had been double-crossed when party officials met on Sunday to finalize the acceptance of Recto without even informing him.

“They kept me in the dark,” he said.

Osmeña also said that he believed the LP wanted to get the Batangas governor to boost the party and was forced to accept Recto as a condition.

He said he would discuss the issue with Aquino one more time, possibly Friday night.

Asked if there was a possibility he would change his mind, he said he was through (Ayaw ko na). “It would be difficult.”

Fed up with fighting

Osmeña said that there were people around Aquino that he did not trust.

“I’m fed up with the inside fighting, with the Mafia in the Liberal Party,” he said.

Asked to name names, Osmeña laughed. But he clarified that he still believed Aquino was the best presidential candidate based on his track record, his good values and his being an honest person.

However, he said he would no longer carry Aquino or Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II in his campaign as an independent although he would include senatorial candidates that he described as good officials in LP’s senatorial slate, such as Teofisto Guingona III and Raffy Biazon.

Asked why he would not carry Aquino in the campaign although his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, helped him when he ran for senator before, Osmeña said he had done enough for him.

“We have helped him a lot. And I will not say any negative words against Noynoy,” Osmeña said.

Political maverick

He also said he would remain a member of the PDP-Laban although he would run as an independent. Osmeña, however, said he might join Sen. Francis Escudero if he pursues his plan of running for vice president.

A known maverick when he was in the Senate, Osmeña disclosed that he had received offers from the camp of Sen. Manuel Villar and former President Joseph Estrada to run under their respective parties but he refused their offers on Wednesday.

“I turned down Erap and Villar already. I want a higher standard of public service. I don’t want to have extra baggage when I run and win because my loyalty is to the Filipino people,” Osmeña said.

LP spokesperson Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III said the party had yet to strike
Osmeña’s name from its list of senatorial aspirants (nine so far).

Tañada also said that Aquino was still talking to Osmeña: “Well, there are still efforts from Senator Noynoy; talks are still continuing to ask him to remain. But just the same, we are also not filling his slot. We won’t change him for another candidate.”

Recto surprised

In a statement, Recto said he was “surprised” to hear that Osmeña “is planning to leave the LP just because I joined the movement of Noynoy and Mar [Roxas] for clean politics.”

Recto said he and his wife did not apply but were “invited” by the LP to back the Aquino-Roxas tandem.

“My service in government is of public record. It is one unstained by any charge of corruption or wrongdoing,” he said, apparently responding to Osmeña’s assertion he could not accept a former Palace ally in the LP.

“I have always been known to speak my mind, be it on the floor of the House, the committee rooms of the Senate, or inside Malacañang,” Recto said, adding:

“I have never allowed my party affiliation to get in the way of my principles.”

Recto also said he had opposed the Arroyo administration’s unpopular policies.

He said even Osmeña, as a senator, supported the passage of the value-added tax (VAT) that he had sponsored.

Nothing categorical

While the LP is bent on holding on to Osmeña, the chance is “remote” that representatives of militant party-list groups will seek seats in the Senate under its banner.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, who, along with Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza, is running for senator in May 2010, said a dinner meeting on Wednesday with a “relaxed” Aquino did not result in anything clear.

“At the minimum, [we talked about] what in his platform we could work together on. But he was silent about whether we would be included among those [the LP] would consider [as senatorial candidates]. There was nothing categorical like that,” Ocampo told reporters at the Serye forum in Quezon City.

He also aired the perception that there were many groups surrounding Aquino, with each one having a say on who would be included in the LP senatorial slate.

Also present at the dinner meeting that took place in a restaurant on Pasay Road in Makati were Erin Tañada, LP campaign manager Abad, LP secretary general Cavite Rep. Joseph Abaya and Nathanael Santiago of the Makabayan coalition, which will carry Ocampo and Maza as its senatorial candidates.

Falling in line

Ocampo said he and Maza were told that the applicants for the remaining slots in the LP slate were numerous.

“They said those falling in line were more than twice the number of slots, and that there were special groups lobbying to be accommodated,” he said.

So far, the names on the LP senatorial slate are Osmeña, former senator Franklin Drilon, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, Muntinlupa Rep. Rossano Biazon, Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III, former Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta, Sonia Roco and Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros.

Options, not feelings

Ocampo said that during the dinner, Aquino mostly focused his remarks on his family’s efforts to find a way to solve the problems at Hacienda Luisita.

He said Aquino did not express any ill feelings about the issues involving Luisita, and “discussed options, not how bad he felt.”

The vast sugar estate in Tarlac province is in the middle of a bitter agrarian reform dispute.

Ocampo said Aquino had promised to continue studying the issues and to look after the farmers’ interest even if his family would let go of Luisita.