“WE ARE not divided, we are united in diversity.”
This was how real estate magnate Manuel Villar Jr. described the Nacionalista Party (NP), which now has three vice presidential aspirants but no presidential candidate.
On the sidelines of the Forbes CEO forum Wednesday, the NP president and former senator said the party was not discouraging any of the three candidates from running.
Conscience vote
Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV, all NP members, have declared their vice presidential bid next year.
“We’re adopting a conscience vote there. The party members will support anyone of the three that they like but of course, in the end, there will be a trend among the party mates to support one,” Villar said.
The NP will be unable to field any presidential candidate from its ranks for the 2016 elections because many of the promising members are young, Villar said.
“We may not even support a presidential candidate but we are flexible,” he said.
Asked whether adopting an external presidential candidate was still a possibility, Villar said discussions were still ongoing.
For Grace?
To those wooing NP support, Villar said in jest: “I always give them my prayers.”
It was earlier reported that NP was discussing the possibility of supporting the presidential bid of Grace Poe.
Asked about the logic behind allowing multiple candidates, Villar said: “The party knows what it wants… I’m telling you now we always meet. We’re friends. We just don’t follow the traditions of the old parties. Let the people decide and after a while you’ll know sino dapat (who should be the one),” he said.
Asked how he would assess the performance of outgoing President Aquino, Villar had a monosyllabic reply: “Good.”
Villar, chair of Vista Land & Lifescapes, was initially the front-runner for the 2010 presidency but the death of former President Cory Aquino suddenly thrust her son Noynoy into the limelight. He won the presidential balloting by a landslide.