UNA rethinks ‘no-guests’ policy

Grace Poe-Llamanzares. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The administration coalition’s decision to include Grace Poe-Llamanzares in its senatorial slate has prompted the rival  United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) to reconsider its policy against fielding “common” candidates.

Deposed President Joseph Estrada, a senior UNA leader, on Wednesday said the UNA has opted to “amend” the policy after Llamanzares, outgoing chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, agreed to run under the ruling Liberal Party.

“We amended that policy,” he said in a phone interview, a few days after President Benigno Aquino himself announced that the administration ticket had drafted Llamanzares, the daughter of the late movie star Fernando Poe Jr., an unsuccessful candidate for president in 2004.

Estrada, a close friend of Poe, said he asked other UNA leaders to agree to relax the rule disallowing senatorial candidates to also run under an opposing ticket in order to accommodate Llamanzares.

He said relaxing the rule would mean that UNA would also have no more problem with Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero running simultaneously under the administration slate.

Legarda could end up in the LP ticket if coalition talks with the senator’s Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) were to push through. But Estrada said Legarda had also committed to run under UNA.

Escudero in limbo

As for Escudero, neither the LP nor UNA has categorically stated that he would be part of their 2013 ticket.

Escudero, who is now an independent, bolted the NPC in 2010 when he failed to get its support for his planned presidential run. He ended up campaigning for Mr. Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay, a senior UNA leader.

Estrada said Llamanzares had sought his blessings before agreeing to join the LP senatorial slate.

“She asked permission from me. I said, ‘OK, you will be our common candidate,’” he said in Filipino.

He said he would let Llamanzares decide whether to campaign with UNA or with LP. “It’s up to her. As you know, her father is more than a brother to me. I can’t leave her behind,” he said.

Estrada acknowledged that Llamanzares might have an “advantage” in running with the administration ticket. But he noted that his endorsement and that of Binay could easily overwhelm that of the President as shown by the results of a recent Pulse Asia survey.

That a number of senatorial aspirants could end up being common candidates of UNA and LP was the reason behind a previous proposal to form a “super” coalition between the two political groups, he said.

But with the LP turning it down, Estrada said the proposal was now “dead.”