‘GMA quitting Lakas for Gibo’

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines  – President Arroyo is reportedly planning to resign as president of the merged Lakas-Kampi-CMD party to boost the presidential bid of administration candidate Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

Pampanga first district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin told The STAR that the President revealed her intention during a closed-door meeting held at the Fontana Convention Center here the other day.

Present at the meeting were Lazatin, Malacañang External Affairs Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan and Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales.

“She said she felt she was not contributing positively to the candidacy of Teodoro so it would be better for her to resign and give way to younger leaders,” Lazatin said.

The meeting lasted about an hour and occurred after the opening of the three-day 2nd National Information and Communication Technology Confederation of the Philippines at Fontana, where the President was guest speaker.

Lazatin said Pamintuan and Morales tried to dissuade the President from resigning as party president but they appeared to have failed.

“I am prepared to respect and support whatever the decision of the President is,” he said.

Lazatin said Mrs. Arroyo

lamented the negative attitude of the media towards her, which she thought was adversely affecting the chances of Teodoro in the presidential elections.

“She said she wanted younger leaders to take over (the Lakas-Kampi-CMD),” he said.

While the President did not mention who she wanted to take over her post as party president, Lazatin said he believed it would be former Rep. Prospero Pichay, now head of the Local Water Utilities Administration.

Pichay has been frequently accompanying the President in her numerous sorties in Pampanga.

There were reports that the Lakas-Kampi-CMD executive committee will meet on Nov. 11 instead of Nov. 19, as initially scheduled, to enable the President to announce her decision to relinquish the party presidency.

Lazatin, however, said that Mrs. Arroyo will remain with the merged party as an ordinary member.

He said the President’s reported political plans were never discussed in the meeting although he admitted that some months ago some of his colleagues in Congress were mapping out plans for Mrs. Arroyo to run for Congress and later install her as prime minister once Charter change realizes a parliamentary system of government.

Meanwhile Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, however, suggested on Thursday that Mrs. Arroyo run for vice president in 2010 to push for “fiscal reforms and crucial legislation.”

Suarez said Arroyo would be an “asset” to anyone who would become president.

But the President’s rumored political plans could be finally confirmed or debunked on Dec. 1, the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacy, her election lawyer said yesterday.

Romulo Macalintal, in a news briefing at the Palace, stressed that Mrs. Arroyo has not given any inkling of her possible political plans.

“We know that Dec. 1 is the deadline (of the filing of the certificates of candidacy) so people will know by Dec. 1 whether she will run or not,” he said.

“The people will not be surprised anymore if she will run so I think let’s wait for the situation to unfold,” Macalintal said in Filipino.

Anticipating questions on the issue of her running for vice president, Macalintal said: “The issue of her being a congresswoman has not yet been resolved, the more I can’t answer whether she is going to run for vice president.”

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Macalintal was designated to answer questions on the President’s possible future political plans from now on.

In the past, Palace spokespersons answered such queries from journalists.

“It’s not that she’s undecided, but it has not entered her mind whether she’ll be running or would be running in the forthcoming political exercise,” Macalintal said.

“There is no legal obstacle if in case Mrs. Arroyo decides to seek public office again,” he added.

The President’s allies said she is only barred from seeking reelection under the Constitution.

Macalintal said before the issue of whether Mrs. Arroyo will run or not, the legal qualifications of other prospective political candidates should be first resolved.

“She told me that she has not said anything about running but these are all opinions of some critics.”

He noted that there is a petition before the Supreme Court, which appears to be directed against Mrs. Arroyo, though she is not a respondent.

Macalintal was referring to the petition earlier filed by Henry Giron, head of the Article 64 Movement, asking the Supreme Court to stop the Commission on Elections from implementing a resolution that would allow the President to run for Congress without resigning from office.

Giron said the possibility of Mrs. Arroyo running for Congress was among the considerations in their petition. The Comelec rebutted the petition.

Macalintal said Mrs. Arroyo is an astute politician, and therefore is aware of the political dynamics in the country.

He said elected officials, whose terms are about to end are often subject of speculations and “the President is not exempt from all these speculations.”

Philstar

Tags: Elections, gloria macapagal arroyo, Malacañang

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