Legarda sets eyes for presidency, not VP

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Loren Legarda rejected suggestions on Wednesday that she run again for vice president in 2010 and stated that she could serve the people effectively if she were the “captain of the ship.”

She was reacting to reports that the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the party led by billionaire businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, was considering a team-up of Senators Francis Escudero and Legarda for the 2010 presidential elections.

But when asked if she would consider running for vice president again, Legarda said, “It’s highly unlikely because ... been there, done that.”

“I want to serve our people and that can only be done if I am the captain of the ship,” she said in an interview.

Legarda talked of her “passion and compassion for good management and governance.”

“It is this passion and compassion that will eventually drive me to run for the highest post if and when I so decide and I so declare. And I will make such decision at the proper time,” she said.

She said she would “continue the fight” started by the late opposition standard bearer, movie star Fernando Poe Jr.

Legarda was handpicked by Poe as his running mate in 2004, but they lost to the team of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro.

“If and when I declare to run for President,” it would be based “on a vision and platform of good governance,” she said.

“I will not just be a whim—because I want to run—and timing. It will be based on a platform and vision for our country. A vision of good governance, sustainable development, transparency and accountability to the people,” she said.

During the NPC Christmas party that Cojuangco hosted on Monday at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club, the talk was of an Escudero-Legarda or Legarda-Escudero ticket in 2010.

According to Legarda, the “informal agreement” was for Cojuangco to anoint the topnotcher in the presidential surveys as the party standard-bearer.

“Of course, [Cojuangco] will endorse the one who’s winnable,” she said.

Legarda and Escudero are both members of NPC which also counts 28 congressmen and hundreds of local officials from governors down to mayors in its roster.

Legarda did not rule out the NPC coalescing with other parties. “The party is strong in itself but coalitions are usually entered into during elections.”

As for Senator Manuel Villar and Vice President Noli de Castro, the two other known presidential aspirants that have been consistently topping the surveys, she said: “I can take on anyone. In the end I only compete with myself, not with other people.” inquirer.net