Blame NPC’s ambivalence
The political players are caught by surprise by the sudden departure of Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero from the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) thereby casting doubt his bid to become the next President of the country.
Before the start of this political frenzies, NPC boasts of the formidable line up of Chiz Escudero and Loren Legarda as standard bearers. Suddenly, Loren Legarda announced her candidacy for Vice President. But she instead announced that she is available to other Presidential candidate despite the fact that her party mate, Sen. Chiz Escudero is publicly known to run for President.
Its baffling that this kind of awkward situation was not checked by the NPC leadership. Perhaps because NPC, as a party has no clear alliance whether it is for the administration or for the opposition. Perhaps the party leadership think that this kind of set up works well with party members indefinitely. Take for example Chiz and Loren is with the opposition while Senator Ernesto Maceda is with Erap. Some members are secretly supporting Gibo Teodoro, despite the latter is no longer a member of the NPC but with the Lakas Kampi.
But there are situations, like the upcoming presidential elections, where the party should take a stand; where it will ally itself. Playing both with the administration and the opposition will no longer work. As the events unfold, Chiz Escudero is the first casualty of this set up. Had NPC had stick to their horses and crack the whip on Legarda who was publicly shopping for a presidential candidate, the Escudero departure would not have happened.
With Escudero gone, Loren Legarda emerged as the top contender for the party’s standard bearer, assuming that the party will proceed in fielding candidates. Unfortunately, Loren lacks the charisma of Chiz. Loren also carries the burden of convincing the voters that a woman president is still acceptable for the next six years given the 9 year reign of Gloria Arroyo.
However, Loren’s public announcement that she was shopping for a presidential candidate despite the availability of her partymate does not look well in the eyes of the voters. A lot of my acquaintances do not like Loren. They just cant explain it. Maybe they have seen something in her. Call that intuition. I myself find Loren as insufficient. She is a picture of a politician who is continuously trying hard to promote herself. She abandoned Lakas in 2004 when FPJ preferred her over Miriam Santiago. Then she abandoned LDP in 2008 to be with a stronger party and where there is a bigger chance of being drafted again for the highest position of the land. Now that she is with NPC she is opening her doors to presidential candidates of other parties.
In the meantime, I rather find Loren’s reaction to Chiz departure as hypocritical. Loren said, her sliding down to Vice President was wasted. I think this statement is true and credible if Loren had stick with Escudero all the way. It is not right for Loren to say thate her sacrifice is wasted because in the first place, she does not look to be Chiz partner.
As for the NPC, it may not be a problem. If Loren cannot carry the party, it can simply coalesce with Lakas Kampi whose standard bearer is a former member, Gibo Teodoro. In any case, NPC can still win, with or without Loren or Chiz.
