MANILA, 3 October 2003 — Sen. Loren Legarda, a key ally of President Gloria Arroyo, resigned from the ruling Lakas — Christian Muslim Democrats party in the biggest hint that she might seek higher office in the May 2004 election.
Legarda stressed that she has yet to make up her mind on whether to accept offers to join the opposition.
There have been widespread rumors that she has been offered to be the running mate of business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco, head of the opposition Nationalist People’s Coalition, if he decides to run for president next year.
“As a political independent, I am now at peace with myself and my conscience, and free to make a stand on issues unencumbered by narrow, partisan interests,” she told a news conference.
Legarda is the majority floor leader of the Senate and she was vice president of the Lakas before her resignation.
She said the possibility that President Arroyo would seek reelection in 2004 was one “among the many issues” that prompted her to quit the party.
“I have always said that the president must uphold her December 30 (2002) commitment. But I felt that if I air that out, this view would be inconsistent with the party,” Legarda told reporters after a news conference announcing her decision to leave Lakas.
“I cannot speak out my mind without inviting intrigue,” she added. “Being independent endows me with the freedom to take an objective and firm stand on the raging issues of the day without inviting criticism that I am disloyal to Lakas.”
She admitted that she has received offers from opposition political parties to join them for the last six months. She stressed, however, that she will remain independent until she finds a new political party.
“Political parties come and go,” she said. “Good governance and honest politics are the bedrock of my public life.”
She said she will announce within the month her political plans for 2004.
Probably as a result of Legarda’s unexpected breakaway, administration sources said yesterday that President Arroyo would declare tomorrow her intention to stand for election next year. They said she would make the announcement in her home province of Pampanga.
“The president is going back to her roots, the same roots of her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, to make the announcement,” said one of the sources.
Arroyo purportedly wants to make her declaration before the Oct. 7 meeting of leaders of Lakas, where she is expected to be drafted as its standard-bearer in 2004.
“If she makes her announcement after the Lakas meeting, it would appear that this was principally influenced by traditional politicians,” the source said.
Asked to comment, Norberto Gonzales, the president’s adviser on special concerns, said he was “very positive” that she would run for election in May.
“I believe that the president is responding affirmatively to the people’s clamor for meaningful change,” he said. “She recognizes that she must get a mandate from the people for her to lead the nation toward change.”
“Such a mandate is mandatory as leadership is vital to the process of reform,” he added.
Gonzales said there were two elements involved in the anticipated decision of Arroyo to seek a new, six-year term.
He said these were “discernment on what will do the nation good” and “pressure from several quarters calling on her continued leadership.”
When asked for confirmation, Jose Maria Rufino, executive director of Lakas and political liaison officer of the president, said, “That’s the best development I’ve heard.” He laughed loudly when pressed to elaborate.
Gonzales and Rufino are the two advisers of the president who have long been pushing her to go back on her Dec. 30, 2002, declaration that she would not run for election in 2004.
Representative Prospero Pichay of the Lakas party said the president’s standing for election was a foregone conclusion. “I never had doubts,” he said. “The president will always put the interest of the nation as her principal priority. She is doing a supreme act of statesmanship by heeding the call of the people and the need of the times.”
Rep. Augusto Syjuco, also of Lakas, pointed out that Arroyo had survived the challenges against her incumbency, from acts of destabilization to the July 27 military coup attempt, to the corruption and money laundering allegations against her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.
“What has emerged is an extra-tough president who has passed the crucible and ready to knock out her challengers in a clean fight in May,” he said.
Syjuco also said that despite her dipping survey ratings, there was a “big, solid GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) constituency that will stick with her come hell or high water — a mass base her challengers do not have.”
The president co-chairs the ruling party with House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
De Venecia, who was due to return from abroad yesterday night, has been informed of Arroyo’s decision to run for election, a source in the administration said.
It was de Venecia who earlier announced that the president was the “overwhelming” choice of Lakas leaders to be the party’s standard-bearer in 2004. (Inputs from DPA & INS)
