MANILA, Philippines?The idea of the opposition uniting to field a lone presidential candidate against the administration's bet in the 2010 elections is a pipe dream, according to Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Pimentel also said the lack of unity in the opposition could give the administration a ready excuse, in case it would cheat, to explain the loss of the opposition bets.

Still, Pimentel said the opposition should learn from the lessons of history, specifically the team-up of former president Corazon Aquino and Salvador ?Doy? Laurel. Each of them had their own different plans but set these aside to reach a common goal, which was to battle the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Laurel had wanted to run for President in 1986 and had the machinery to mount a nationwide campaign. But Aquino, who had captured the public's sympathy as the widow of the assassinated opposition figure senator Benigno Aquino Jr., was the more popular bet for chief executive.

Pimentel recalled that Aquino had asked him to be her running mate because she could not iron out her differences with Laurel. But while she was planning to go to Pimentel's house to convince him to accept her offer, Laurel had been convinced by Jaime Cardinal Sin to slide down and be Aquino's vice president.

The Aquino-Laurel tandem proved to be popular, and the allegations that Marcos cheated during the polls sparked a massive uprising that led to the latter's ouster.

?The unification of Cory and Doy is instructive, which is that the opposition must try to present only one candidate so that the administration has no way of saying that you lost because you were divided,? Pimentel said at the Kapihan sa Sulo forum.

He warned that in the event the administration wins by cheating, it could still point to the presence of several opposition candidates as the reason the opposition candidates lost. He wants to avoid such a scenario at all cost, he added.

But he was not optimistic that the opposition would see it his way.

?I must add that is a pipe dream,? he said.

He said Senators Manuel Villar and Mar Roxas were hell-bent on running for President in 2010, and show no intent to back down or to slide down to a lower position.

Deposed president Joseph ?Erap? Estrada, a formidable opposition figure, may probably run in 2010 as well, Pimentel said.

Other players also intend to stake their claim on the highest executive post. Senators Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda and Maria Ana Consuelo ?Jamby? Madrigal, and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, also want to be President, he added.

?There are a lot of dynamics that will prevent the unification of the opposition,? he said.

Pimentel thinks Estrada wants to run again, despite the possibility that he would be disqualified from seeking a second term based on the Constitution, because he wants to show that his 2001 ouster was a mistake.

"If I could fathom the motives of Erap in running, I think he wants a final vindication that what was done to him was not right and the people still love him. But that is manifest. Everytime he goes to the province, he is mobbed by people,? he said.