THE Nationalist People’s Coalition on Wednesday backpedaled on the declaration by a top party official that its alliance with the administration had ended, contradicting former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco, who had announced the split Tuesday.
Party insiders who spoke on condition of anonymity said President Benigno Aquino III intervened to “iron out the kinks” with the party founded by his uncle, businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., and his cousin Mark, provincial chairman of the NPC in vote-rich Pangasinan province.
Cojuangco’s declaration Tuesday that “Team Pnoy is over” sent Liberal Party officials scrambling to save the administration’s Team Pnoy coalition from disintegrating.
Sources privy to the negotiations between the two sides said an NPC pullout would be disastrous for Team Pnoy because the NPC was the second biggest party and the biggest contributor to the administration coalition’s campaign kitty.
The Liberal Party said its alliance with the NPC for the May senatorial race remains strong despite differences at the local level.
“There has been no change in the relationship between the Liberal Party and the NPC. It remains strong and fully supportive of Team PNoy,” LP spokesman Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III said.
He said the coalition was nowhere on the verge of collapse despite the pronouncements of Cojuangco that “there is no more Team Pnoy.”
Officially, the NPC played down Cojuangco’s declaration.
“NPC leader Rep. Mark Cojuangco was taken out of context when he echoed his sentiments on the progress of the partnership of the two parties,” said NPC spokesman Rex Gatchalian. “Of course, Representative Cojuangco had the best interests of the party and our candidates when he issued the statement, but it does not mean that we are breaking our partnership with them (LP).”
NPC Secretary General and Batangas Rep. Mark Llandro Mendoza said the NPC and the LP leadership had “ironed out kinks” so as not to dissolve the partnership.
He added that the NPC and LP also reached a compromise to accommodate the concerns of NPC members that were reflected in Cojuangco’s statement.
Cojuangco on Wednesday stood by his pronouncement that the LP was the first to violate the coalition agreement or covenant, prompting the NPC to pull out of the coalition.
“One of the compromises was for the vote-rich Pangasinan province to be declared as a free zone,” Mendoza told the Manila Standard.
A free zone means that the administration coalition would not intervene in the decision of their local leaders who to support in the senatorial and local elections.
The “irreconcilable differences” described by Cojuangco on Tuesday were portrayed as “minor kinks” that were noted and resolved on Wednesday.
But neither Mendoza or Gatchalian would say who among the 12 Team Pnoy candidates would be junked by the NPC in favor of Cagayan Rep. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr., an NPC member running under the banner of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance.
The two officials also would not say if the party would junk Enrile, because the NPC’s covenant with the Liberal Party coalition mandates that all 12 candidates of Team Pnoy would be supported.
The other NPC member running for the Senate is Senator Loren Legarda, who is running as a common candidate in both the administration and opposition tickets.
Gatchalian maintained that the NPC would fully support the senatorial bid of the two NPC candidates but refused to say who would be junked in Team PNoy to accommodate Enrile.
Earlier, Cojuangco said the NPC would junk the LP members in favor of Enrile and other UNA senatorial candidates that he said the NPC members believed could help President Aquino’s reform agenda.
Cojuangco added to his list NPC member Edward Hagedorn and NPC chairman emeritus Ernesto Maceda. Hagedorn is running for senator as an independent while Maceda is running under UNA.
On Wednesday, Cojuangco said the NPC would support Legarda, former NPC member Senator Francis Escudero, Enrile, Hagedorn and Maceda – which would mean it would back only up to seven Team Pnoy candidates.
Mendoza said the NPC leadership understood Cojuangco’s anger at what he described as the administration’s “shabby treatment” of Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino, who is being investigated for corruption and murder just ahead of the elections.
Cojuangco said the LP’s witness against Espino was twice convicted of extortion.
Coalition sources said the Liberal Party would not allow the alliance with the NPC to dissolve because the second biggest party in the country also had substantial campaign funds.
“The Cojuangco clan is important to the President and Team Pnoy,” one source said.
Others said the LP was worried about declaring some vote-rich areas as “free zones” judging from what happened in Cebu, where only 2,000 people attended a political rally headlined by President Aquino and the Team Pnoy.
In contrast, the opposition UNA drew a crowd of 35,000 at its proclamation rally in Cebu Feb. 12.
The low turnout this week for Team Pnoy was a result of the indifference of the National Unity Party, a coalition member that refused to mobilize its supporters in protest of the Liberal Party moves to suspend and prosecute Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, the official candidate of the UNA for a congressional seat.
Garcia’s father, Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia, is NUP national chairman while her brother Cebu Rep. Pablo John is NUP provincial chairman for Cebu.
The Garcias were President Aquino’s allies in the House but were angered when Gwendolyn was suspended on charges of abuse of authority, even though the complainant, the former vice governor, had already died.
The LP fielded Hilario Davide III, LP provincial chairman, against Pablo John in the gubernatorial race.
Dasmarinas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., NUP vice president for external and political affairs, said the vote-rich Cebu was also declared a free zone.
NUP President Rodolfo Antonino, who earlier protested the LP’s shabby treatment of its allies, said no party discipline would be meted out against the Garcias for defying the administration coalition covenant.
In a statement, the NPC clarified that it is steadfast in its commitment of fully supporting the administration of President Aquino.
Gatchalian said the NPC is duty bound to support its candidates from all levels and that they are also aware of the fact that some issues will crop up especially when the local campaign starts next month.
“All political partnerships are bound to encounter some issues… but it does not mean that they will break up just because of some minor kinks,” Gatchalian said.
“The leadership of both parties are currently working to further harmonize our operational plans, so that when the local campaign period comes, we will be able to harness the full strength of the partnership for our candidates,” Gatchalian said.
“We would like to stress that the NPC leadership and its members are fully supporting the leadership of President Aquino and we have no intention whatsoever of walking out of this commitment,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian added that the NPC was “sorry to disappoint the rumor mongers” but it remains 100 percent behind the partnership, and would support President Aquino and his reform agenda until the last day of his six-year term.
On Tuesday, Cojuangco said the NPC has already issued orders to junk the three LP candidates in the Team PNoy lineup—Jamby Madrigal, Bam Aquino and Ramon Magsaysay Jr. – and to replace them with their preferred candidates from the United Nationalist Alliance.
Cojuangco described the pullout as retaliation for the ruling LP’s attacks on NPC candidates.
“The LP started it. The LP was the first to violate the coalition covenant or agreement. We are only retaliating,” he said. “We support President Aquino but not his LP candidates in the Team PNoy.”
In an interview in Lapu-lapu City in Cebu, Magsaysay said Cojuangco’s statement may have been his personal take and not the official stance of the NPC.
“I respect the opinion of my friend. However, I think the coalition will hold. The NPC is a very important part of the administration coalition,” Magsaysay said.
He said he will talk to Cojuangco as soon as possible.
“I have no anxiety over his statement. I believe the coalition will be stronger and solidified even after the elections,” Magsaysay added.
Tañada said the LP has received assurances from NPC spokesman Gatchalian that there will be no break-up.
“For us, that is enough,” Tañada said.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, also a spokesperson for the Team Pnoy, accused the UNA of orchestrating the “lies” about a coalition break-up.
But UNA campaign manager and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said the opposition alliance had nothing to do with reports of the alleged split.
Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, vice chairman of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, said that the rumored tensions within the Liberal Party-led coalition meant a shake-up was inevitable.
“As I predicted, when the campaign starts, they will begin to drop each other,” he said, adding that the tension would benefit other parties such as the Lakas-CMD.
“We’ll just watch them fight,” Suarez said. “And when they are tired and have demolished each other, then enters Lakas.” With Joyce Pangco Pañares, Maricel V. Cruz and Gigi Munoz David
By Christine F. Herrera
Source: http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/02/21/npc-rebuffs-cojuangco/
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