LOREN: I'LL NEVER BE PART OF ANY MOVE TO OUST THE
NEXT PRESIDENT
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Sen. Loren Legarda answers questions from STAR editors yesterday.
Val Rodriguez]
MANILA, MARCH 20, 2010 (STAR) By Christina Mendez - Vice presidential candidate Sen. Loren Legarda vowed yesterday that if elected, she would not take part in any move to oust the next president.
“I will never be part of any coup, impeachment, anything that will disrupt the democratic processes and smooth governance of our country. Our country has been on a political roller coaster, which has been a setback in our development for decades and we are now the laggards of Asia,” said Legarda, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and a guest candidate of the Nacionalista Party headed by presidential bet Sen. Manny Villar.
Legarda told the The STAR editors during the newspaper’s vice-presidential series that the vice-president should remain loyal to the president.
She said the country had not moved forward since Mrs. Arroyo became president as a result of the EDSA People Power II.
Legarda expressed support for bloc voting so the people could elect a president and president from one party to avoid any conflict in platforms and governance.
Legarda also pledged her commitment to be a good, supportive and collaborative vice president to Villar if they win in the May 10 elections.
Legarda lamented that the nine years of the Arroyo administration has failed because the President has been “trying to survive a presidency.”
“I think that is largely because of our destructive, counter productive politics. I think we should start unifying our people instead of being so divisive. That is perhaps because governance has failed and much entrenched corruption has not been stemmed. I think it has even worsened and that’s very unfortunate,” said Legarda.
“The nine years have not really served the interests of the poorest of the poor whose lives have even worsened, because when you assumed office not from an election but through succession, maybe that’s the challenge, the Herculean task that Mrs. Arroyo had to overcome,” Legarda added.
Legarda, however, does not believe that President Arroyo had destroyed the institutions of government.
“I believe that the institutions will always be there. I don’t think a president who has not been successful in his or her term can destroy the institutions,” she said, adding that it’s up to the next leaders to rebuild the trust in these institutions.
It was at this point that Legarda reiterated the need for the people to choose the next leaders, who do not thrive in the politics of hate and those who do not rely on the famous last names of their parents.
Although she did not name names, she was obviously referring to the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and his running mate Sen. Mar Roxas II.
Cabinet post for vice president
Legarda said she believes that her president (referring to Villar) knows her capabilities and that she can shine in whatever position would be assigned to her.
Legarda said she could handle any Cabinet post as she cited her vast background in leading various committees at the Senate.
“My president will use me where I am suited,” she said.
Legarda said that she would be a collaborative and supportive vice-president.
Loren hits Mar
Legarda also took potshots at her rival, Sen. Mar Roxas II, whom she lambasted for not being true to his political advertisements.
She also turned the tables on Roxas, whose camp has been attacking the NP, particularly Villar, for spending too much for political advertisements.
Roxas’ political ads are “fake,” adding that his decision to slide down from president to vice president was a good exit plan because he failed to get high ratings in his presidential bid, she said.
“It (sliding down) was not a sacrifice, it was an exit plan. His single digit (rating) did not go up,” she said.
Legarda said Roxas had spent almost a billion pesos in the past three years since he started his campaign for the presidency.
She said her rival had done all the stunts from riding a pedicab while wearing leather shoes, to crying in noontime shows and yet his single digit rating did not go up.
“So it’s not a sacrifice as they made it appear, it’s a good exit plan. He has even Noynoy to thank that he is now running for vice-president,” Legarda said.
Loren’s lovelife
She said the “state of her love life” is like “El Niño” where there is drought.
Legarda also brushed aside rumors linking her to older men, including fellow Sen. Edgardo Angara.
“I can categorically say straight. No senator of the Philippines has ever courted me in the past 12 years since 1998 to 2010,” she said.
“You know Ed (Angara) is such a kind, selfless (colleague). Angara is the president of the LDP (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino) and in 2004, he put FPJ (actor Fernando Poe Jr.) and me together,” Legarda explained. “If elder men admire me or younger men, colleagues from Senate or whatever, that’s just it.”
She added she is not attracted to men without brains. “I am not attracted to hunks, I am not attracted to overly handsome men who have nothing between their ears. I admire men who are good human beings, who are humanitarians and kind to people,” Legarda added.
Legarda said she does not like glamorous men. “I get attracted to intellect,” Legarda said, but added that she, however, has a “waistline requirement.”
Legarda worried over possible poll fraud By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) Updated March 20, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - With the first poll automation this May, vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda (NP-NPC) expressed fears yesterday over possible poll fraud.
During The STAR’s vice presidential series, Legarda admitted that it would be a big challenge for her and the Nacionalista Party, led by running mate Sen. Manuel Villar, to protect their votes.
Legarda, who decried poll fraud in the 2004 elections, noted the contrast in the manual and automated elections, making it hard to detect poll manipulations in May.
“I can’t use the lessons learned in 2004 now because it’s computerized. One cannot imagine how to fight the fraud in computerized elections,” she said.
She called for vigilance to help protect their votes and ensure the victory of the entire NP slate in the elections.
“The challenge is that the preparedness in vigilance and guarding your votes is different in 2004 when it was still manual voting. So I don’t know how to guard my votes, I let my people in the party and Manny to help protect our votes together,” she said.
Legarda, who has gone through four national elections as senator and then vice president in 2004 and this year, noted that election now is “more expensive because my rivals have more resources than I do.”
She noted that her main rival, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, has spent a billion pesos in political advertisements for the past two years when he started gearing up for the presidency.
She said she decided to run for vice-president because she thinks she can do more to help the Filipino people.
“Why am I running for vice? At 50, there is not much more I would want in life. God has been good to me. While I have made mistakes, I also had triumphs. While I had many sad moments, I also had many blessings. I believe I can do much as vice-president for now and help my president.”
She said she would still continue her United Nations assignment for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation even if she becomes vice-president.
Defending Villar
Shrugging off criticisms of her sudden decision to run with Villar, Legarda said she was left with no running mate when Sen. Francis Escudero suddenly dropped from the presidential race. Legarda and Escudero were being groomed then by the Nationalist People’s Coalition as running mates.
“In 1995, I did not know Manny Villar from Adam, yet I choose him as one of the 10 most admired Filipinos of that year. I admired him from a distance because I read about him in a foreign magazine as the brown taipan,” she said, recalling her stint with “Inside Story,” a public affairs program with ABS-CBN.
She said Villar’s rag to riches story got her interested even then.
Believing that Villar would win the elections, Legarda defended her vote against Villar during a coup in the Senate in the November 2007.
“I am the 14th person that Manny approached to get my vote for the Senate President. And I told him I committed my vote for Nene (Pimentel), he is also a good man and a colleague,” she explained.
“When you don’t vote for a colleague, it does not mean you don’t like him or you hate him. That’s the dynamics in the Senate, you don’t always vote together.”
“It’s not an ouster, but as I said, when you vote for another colleague, it does not mean he is your enemy. We don’t take things personally.”
On Erap
In her role in the impeachment move against former President Joseph Estrada, Legarda said she would have wanted that the process led to a fair judgment.
“On hindsight now, the process should have commenced. We should have allowed the defense to present its case and there should have been a verdict so there was a fair judgment and a fair court,” she said.