Villar, Pangilinan go independent

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) The Senate’s so-called Wednesday group officially split up for the May elections on Sunday.

Senators Joker Arroyo and Ralph Recto confirmed they are running under the administration ticket while Senate President Manuel Villar and Senator Francis Pangilinan declared they would seek reelection as independents.

The separate announcements by the two pairs ended speculation about the fate of the Wednesday Group, which the four formed with Vice President Noli de Castro when he was still a senator.

In a joint statement e-mailed to media outfits, Arroyo and Recto said: “We ran for the Senate and won on the Arroyo administration slate. Nothing that has happened since gives us reason not to do the same in our reelection bid.”

In a press conference with Senate reporters, Villar said his and Pangilinan’s decision to go independent should serve as a strong statement on what they would do in the next Senate should they win a fresh mandate from the people. “

“Gusto lang naming i-emphasize ang pagiging independent [We just want to emphasize our being independent],” Villar said.

In a portion of the press conference broadcast over station dzBB, Pangilinan acknowledged their decision was a “calculated risk” but added it was a way to change Philippine politics.

“Kailangan nating pagkatiwalaan ang taumbayan. Kailangan din nating magkaroon ng bagong pagpipilian [We have to trust the will of the people. We all need to have new options to choose from],” he said.

He said many people had become “disenchanted with politics as usual,” which he described as akin to a game of musical chairs.

“Sana mabago na ang pulitika [I hope politics changes],” he added.

Although considered administration lawmakers, Arroyo and Recto cited the many instances they opposed and won in the Supreme Court policies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo -- the Venable contract which tried to contract a US lobby firm to advocate changes in the Constitution using American money, the people’s initiative to amend the Constitution, Executive Order 464 barring officials of the executive department from attending congressional hearings, and Proclamation 1017 which placed the country under a state of national emergency and contained guidelines that curtailed freedom of assembly and of the press.

They noted that through all the administration’s “grave blunders…the President never tried to dissuade us from opposing her.”

“Why then should we not run again in the administration Senate slate? It [administration] has never tried to undermine our independence or bind our conscience or stand in the way of what we believed had to be said and done. It has respected if it did not always enjoy our roles as senator,” they said.

Arroyo and Recto also slammed the opposition for not denouncing the previous coup attempts against the Arroyo administration while at the same time failing to recognize the constitutional succession of the vice president.

“In short, the opposition want to write their own ticket and take back power on the broken back of the Constitution. That is unacceptable on our part and self-contradictory on theirs. They fought, commendably, the foul attempt to change the Constitution but they will not uphold the Constitution,” they said.

Arroyo and Recto also mentioned the improvement in the economy. “True, the rich are getting richer and these improvements have yet to be felt by the vast majority of the poor. But no question, little by little, the people are getting better off,” they said.

They again lashed at the opposition for failing “to explain what part they intend to play if they achieve their ambition in this midterm election. No one can deny that the country is moving forward. The political choice in the coming election is to trip up the country or help it along.”

“On balance, until the opposition can offer something more than the impeachment of the President, the country is better off letting this administration complete the work it is doing while keeping a close watch on anything else it may attempt,” they said.

Despite stressing their independence, both Villar and Pangilinan said they would accept any support offered them by other parties.

If reelected, Pangilinan said he would do what he did in the past, work with the administration or the opposition on initiatives that would serve the best interests of the people.

“I have no problems working with the administration or the opposition kung ikabubuti ng bayan [if it is for the good of the people],” he said.

Both Villar and Pangilinan acknowledged the difficulties of running as independents.

Villar, however, said mass media had changed the nature of campaigning and no longer made it necessary for candidates to be on the stump all the time. He said the broad reach of television and radio allowed individual candidates to map out their own strategies.

The Senate president also acknowledged that his Saturday visit to deposed president Joseph Estrada in Tanay, Rizal, where the former leader is detained at his rest house while waiting for the verdict on his plunder trial, was intended to discuss his decision to go independent.

Villar and his wife, Cynthia, the Parañaque representative, were barred from entering the rest house because of tightened security stemming from a supposed communist rebel plot to assassinate Estrada.

The former president had to walk out to the rest house gate to confer with his visitors.

Originally posted at 2:26pm