LP not yet ready to join forces with UNA

MANILA, Philippines—Will the ruling Liberal Party be joining newly formed United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) for the upcoming midterm 2013 elections?

House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, spokesman for the LP, on Wednesday said that they have yet to discuss the invitation to join UNA, explaining that pursuant to their party’s by-laws, they first need to consult the party’s national executive council before coming to a decision.

Tañada was responding to Senator Aquilino Pimentel III’s invitation for LP to join forces with UNA, which comprises Vice President Jejomar Binay’s Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and former President Joseph Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).

Pimentel said that the offer was an indication that UNA was not created to go head to head with President Aquino’s LP.

Binay and Estrada were running mates in the 2010 elections wherein the latter came in second to Aquino in votes. The President’s running mate, now Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, lost to Binay in the vice presidential race.