ILOILO CITY, Philippines—The ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party continued to lose its top officials after Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, a key ally of President Macapagal-Arroyo, bolted the administration party to run against his former ally Iloilo Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr.

Flanked by his wife Rosalie Sarabia-Treñas and their five children, the mayor said in a press conference on Tuesday that he would be running for a higher post after the end of his third term next year “to heed the clamor of the people.”

While he said he has not yet formally resigned from Lakas-Kampi, Treñas, chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), explained that his decision to run against the incumbent and the administration’s candidate would effectively leave him without a party.

“I do not have a party and I do not know what will happen,” Treñas said at his law office jam-packed with reporters and his supporters who have long anticipated his decision whether to run against or not the administration camp headed by Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez.

Treñas said he has not yet decided to which party he would align with even as he admitted that most of the parties have approached him.

He pointed out that his grandfather, Sen. Potenciano Treñas, belonged to the Nacionalista Party while his father, Efrain Treñas, a constitutional convention commissioner, was a member of the Liberal Party.

But during the press conference, a staff member of presidential aspirant Sen. Manuel Villar was present.

Secretary Gonzalez said he was expecting Treñas’ announcement but belittled its impact on the administration camp in the city.

“I do not begrudge him for his decision because he has a right to do that but I’m disappointed,” Gonzalez told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

He lamented that Treñas would be running against his son after his family and camp had supported the mayor for three terms.