San Juan Representative Joseph Victor Ejercito. INQUIRER file photo
San Juan Representative Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito is wishing that Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson would not tail Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao when the boxing champ joins the campaign sorties of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in next year’s senatorial elections.
“I hope that Chavit does not join our sorties with Manny because of his negative image. He will surely turn off a number of voters,” said Ejercito.
The lawmaker is among the probable senatorial candidates of UNA, a coalition between Vice President Jejomar Binay’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and former President Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.
Ejercito, a son of Estrada, hoped that Singson would keep out of UNA’s rallies or events of his own accord. “He should do it voluntarily because we cannot impose restrictions on other people since this a democracy,” the lawmaker said.
Ejercito and his family continue to hold a grudge against Singson for being the main whistle-blower in the aborted Senate trial against the impeached President Estrada in 2001 which led to his ouster via Edsa II.
Mind own business
In a phone interview, Singson said Ejercito should mind his own business because he was not prying into the latter’s personal plans.
Singson said that he was an independent after pulling out of Lakas-Kampi and that he had ties with Binay.
Singson defended Pacquiao’s decision to shun the Liberal Party and join PDP-Laban in his plan to run for governor of Sarangani province next year.
“The administration was out to embarrass him. He (Pacquiao) felt that the administration could have ironed out his problems without going to the press. He really felt bad about how he was treated,” said Singson.
The governor said Pacquiao and his legal advisers would have been able to justify the sharp drop in the boxer’s tax payments had they been allowed to sit down with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and sort the matter out.