Ouster to spur Villar bid, says ally

MANILA, Philippines—Far from being discouraged, Senator Manuel Villar’s ouster from the Senate presidency will spur him even more to pursue the presidency, according to Villar ally Gilbert Remulla.

According to Remulla, the coup that ousted Villar and ensconced Senator Juan Ponce Enrile as Senate President, was engineered by some senators who were also eyeing the presidency.

It was primarily caused by Villar’s strong showing in the most recent surveys, said Remulla, spokesperson of Villar’s Nacionalista Party.

Vice President Noli de Castro, another close friend of Villar and a possible rival in the 2010 presidential race, said that although Villar might still be nursing his wounds, he should see a silver lining amidst the gloom of his ouster.

“Now he has a lot of time to campaign,” said a chuckling De Castro.

While still in the Senate, De Castro was part of the chamber’s exclusive Wednesday Group that included Villar, and Senators Joker Arroyo, Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto, who is now the socio-economic planning secretary.

While Villar has announced his plans to run for President, De Castro, who is reportedly being considered to be the administration’s standard-bearer in 2010, has not made any mention of his inclination.

Both have consistently enjoyed high ratings in the polls.

De Castro, who is reportedly being paired with Batangas Governor Vilma Santos as the vice presidential candidate, said he has not received any feelers from Malacañang or the ruling Lakas-CMD.

“We have not talked politics. Even the President isn’t talking politics. We are more focused on coming up with solutions to the global crisis. It won’t be good to talk politics in the face of such a crisis,” he told reporters in Malacañang where he spoke at the Carbon Cutting Congress vs Climate Change.

De Castro said he was not thinking about the time frame for declaring his interest in running for President.

“What’s important to me is the time to serve the people because we have barely two years to serve as Vice President,” he said.

He said he doubted that the Senate coup, reportedly instigated by Senators Loren Legarda, Manuel Roxas and Panfilo Lacson, was related to the 2010 presidential elections.

“Even when I was still part of the 12th Congress, there were coups. That’s nothing extraordinary. There’s no such thing as a permanent Senate President,” he said. inquirer.net

Palace names choices for president

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite his consistent high rating in polls, Vice President Noli de Castro is not the only choice of Malacañang for president in the 2010 national elections, an official said Saturday.

Apart from De Castro, Malacañang's choices also include Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte.

"They are the administration's choices. But we will have to await who the President will anoint,'' Cerge Remonde, Presidential Management Staff chief, said in a phone interview.

For now, the President has refused to discuss the 2010 elections, opting to focus on contingency measures against the global financial crunch.

De Castro was the top recommended successor to the President in May 2010, gaining 29 percent of the respondents, according to the third quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations.

He was closely followed by Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. (28 percent) and Senator Loren Legarda (26 percent).

Earlier, in an interview over the government-run Radyo ng Bayan, Remonde made special mention of Teodoro, a member of Congress before he was appointed to the top defense post.

"One whom we feel is a presidential timber, apart from Vice President De Castro, is of course Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. He's showing interest,'' he said. "We will not be surprised if his name will be floated as a presidential candidate.''

Of the five, only Fernando has declared he would run for President in 2010.

Remonde also disclosed he was convincing Batangas Governor Vilma Santos, wife of Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto, to run for vice president in May 2010.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza on Friday shrugged off the results of the SWS survey, saying the President was more focused on contingency measures against the global financial crisis.

"They are not too significant to us because the President is focused on good governance, addressing needs of the nation especially in time of crisis so we can weather the storm,'' he said.

Dureza, however, said that the SWS results showing that one percent of the respondents recommended Arroyo to succeed herself was interesting.

"We don't want to find significance in that. We are more concerned with governance but it is interesting if you would ask me,'' he told reporters. inquirer.net