UNA eyes low-key launch

UNA interim president Rep. Tobias Tiangco. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

With its big guns either in jail or facing prosecution and imprisonment, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), the political party formed by Vice President Jejomar Binay for a ride to Malacañang, is off to an inauspicious start as it holds a “low-key” launching on July 1 at the 3,000-seat Makati Coliseum.

For starters, UNA’s three “pillars” are no longer together, with Binay the only remaining original founder of the group.

Binay is experiencing for the first time how it feels to be just in second place in presidential polls, in addition to being the bull’s-eye for the President’s ire.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile is in detention for allegedly stealing millions in pork barrel funds, with no chance of being granted bail.

And Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada is supporting Sen. Grace Poe, the new front-runner in the race for Malacañang, if she runs for President.

LP watching

To make matters worse, Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice has given fair warning that President Aquino and the rest of the Liberal Party (LP) leaders will have their eyes peeled on who would be attending the UNA launch.

“We’re interested to see if it is true that the Vice President has already attracted massive support for his candidacy. The President will be taking notes,” Erice said on Sunday in a phone interview.

Erice noted that the LP also monitored attendance at Binay’s press conference explaining his resignation from the Cabinet on June 24.

This is probably the reason why Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco, the interim UNA president, is trying to play down the significance of the party’s formal launch.

“It’s not a grand launch. We only expect our founders and members nationwide to attend the event,” Tiangco said in a phone interview.

He said Estrada and his son, Sen. Joseph Victor Estrada, had been invited to the event.

But Tiangco was quick to point out that UNA was separate from Estrada’s political party, the Partido ng Masang Pilpino (PMP).

“UNA the party is different from UNA the coalition in 2013 when Estrada and Enrile’s PMP joined forces with Binay who was then with PDP-Laban,” Tiangco said.

He said Wednesday’s event would not be a “show of force,” as only the incumbent UNA representatives, governors and mayors would attend.

Fair play

Those “who would jump ship from other parties, especially LP, will wait for a better time to show their new allegiances,” he said.

“But I’m disappointed with the statement of the LP that it will monitor our event. What’s wrong with this political exercise? Will they come up with trumped-up charges against anyone who openly declares support for the Vice President? I hope not, because it will have a chilling effect on the opposition,” Tiangco said as he pleaded for fair play.

Programs for poor

Parañaque Rep. Gustavo Tambunting said the launch would be a chance for those who wanted to show their support for Binay’s programs for the poor.

UNA has built a national network of coordinators down to the municipal level in order to qualify as a national political party. With such a network, it can deploy watchers to polling precincts on Election Day.

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