THE opposition United Nationalist Alliance has set no conditions on its six guest candidates even if they will choose to back the rival presidential and vice presidential candidates of UNA’s standard bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay and his running mate Senator Gregorio Honasan.
UNA president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco gave this assurance Wednesday after UNA guest bet for Senator Panfilo Lacson Jr., who was dropped by the Grace Poe-Francis Escudero camp also as guest candidate, announced he would campaign for Manuel Roxas II, the ruling Liberal Party standard bearer.
He is not a member of the LP but it included him in its senatorial slate as a guest candidate.
Lacson said he did not join the LP because many people found the party too “exclusive” by claiming the “tuwid na daan” as its own.
“Nothing will change for our guest candidates. There are no conditions to their being guest candidates of UNA,” Tiangco said.
Lacson on Tuesday said he would support the presidential bid of Roxas after Senator Grace Poe dropped him from her senatorial slate in favor of actor Edu Manzano.
The Poe-Escudero tandem has scheduled a Thursday announcement on their 12 senatorial candidates at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.
Tiangco said UNA would still campaign for their senatorial bets that include six regular candidates and six guest candidates that include Lacson, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, former Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Richard Gordon, re-electionist Senator Vicente Tito Sotto III and Susan Toots Ople.
The six others are former Special Action Force Commander General Getulio Napeñas, Sarangani Rep. and world boxing champion Emmanuel Manny Pacquiao, Jacel Kiram, actress Alma Moreno, labor lawyer Allan Montano and broadcast journalist Rey Langit.
Zubiri, Gordon, Ople and Sotto, who is a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition that is bankrolling Poe’s presidential bid, are also senatorial candidates of the Poe-Escudero tandem.
Tiangco said UNA will not compel their guest candidates to join Binay-Honasan’s provincial sorties but they will nonetheless campaign for them even in their absence.
And if it happened that UNA and LP would be mounting rallies in the same province, Tiangco said the guest candidates would be given leeway to decide to join the UNA sorties before or after the LP sorties.
In vouching for Roxas, Lacson said he saw him as the “last person standing” in next year’s presidential race because he had no issue of corruption, disqualification or health.
“We don’t know what awaits Senator Poe because she has a disqualification case or DQ case. Vice President [Jejomar] Binay has many issues. Of course, Senator Miriam [Defensor-Santiago]—I really don’t know. I can only wish her good luck and good health.”
Poe is facing disqualification charges after several groups and individuals questioned her citizenship and residency status. They claim Poe violated the Constitution for running for Senator and now for President.