Estrada willing to take in Arroyo allies
MANILA, Philippine—Former president Joseph Estrada is open to accepting allies of Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a new political coalition formed for the 2013 mid-term elections and to jumpstart Vice President Jejomar Binay’s presidential run three years later.
But Estrada said applicants to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) should have “no connection to whatever anomalies” during the nine-year rule of Arroyo as president.
Arroyo is now detained on electoral sabotage charges. She is also faces graft charges.
Zambales Representative Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay, an ally of Arroyo, earlier claimed that Binay had asked her to join the coalition. Estrada said he was open to winning Magsaysay over.
“She’s okay,” he told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
Estrada said admission of Arroyo allies into the coalition would “depend on whether they have a good record as public officials.”
“It will also depend on how connected they were to GMA. If they were involved in any anomaly, I would be the one to the block their entry,” he added.
Estrada said he was also willing to include former representative Juan Miguel Zubiri in UNA’s senatorial ticket next year despite objections from Senator Aquilino Pimentel III. Pimentel won his election protest against Zubiri, who was declared winner of the 12th and final slot in the 2007 senatorial elections.
Pimentel missed four years of his six-year term and was able to assume office only in August last year after Zubiri stepped down.
“As they say, there is such a thing as politics of addition but we have to make sure that those that we will be adding will not be a liability,” he said.
Asked if Zubiri could be considered an asset to the UNA, the former president said: “I believe so.” He noted that Zubiri was not implicated in the electoral sabotage case against Arroyo even if he was a perceived beneficiary of the purported cheating in 2007.
Pimentel earlier questioned why Zubiri was being considered in the UNA lineup when he was neither a member of Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) nor Binay’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Both parties have signed a coalition agreement and registered UNA for the 2013 elections.
Estrada said he had received word that Zubiri wanted to join the PMP.
“Unfortunately, he is on the (UNA) list,” Pimentel said, referring to Zubiri. “That’s a big problem. How could I be with the person who deprived me of my four years in the Senate? Certainly, I’m not jumping with joy over this.”
Estrada acknowledged “resistance” from Pimentel, but said the matter could be resolved by a committee within UNA.
“I believe Vice President Binay will create a committee to decide who gets in the coalition,” he said.
