Jolly Life

ANC forum provides peek into Palace aspirants

May 12th, 2009    4,640 views 

No swords were unsheathed, no harsh words were exchanged, and no venoms were spilled as five potential candidates for the presidency in 2010, for the first time, got together and participated in a leadership forum principally sponsored by the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC).

The absence of fireworks, however, was compensated by straight and no-nonsense answers from some of the forum participants, although motherhood statements dominated the replies of most aspirants.

The forum provided a peek into what to expect from those seeking the presidency, but only to a limited extent.

Host Tina Monzon-Palma announced before the start of the forum that Senators Manuel Villar and Loren Legarda, Metro Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, and Vice-President Noli de Castro declined the invitation to attend the forum while Senator Panfilo Lacson supposedly “fell ill.”

Only Senators Mar Roxas, Richard Gordon, Francis Escudero, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, and Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio were able to attend.

Arroyo defenders

Except for occasional jabs, the aspirants observed civility among them with President Arroyo as the preferred punching bag.

Two administration bets—Gordon and Teodoro—expectedly defended, to a certain extent, President Arroyo, while Escudero did not mince words in criticizing the government.

But Gordon and Teodoro, however, gave more concrete and direct answers than the rest.

For instance, Teodoro was categorical in saying he was in favor of charter change through a constitutional convention, and said he would push for the lifting of the ban on foreign ownership in areas such as tourism.

He also openly declared that he is seeking the endorsement of the administration coalition party for practical reasons. “I need their consent before I could run.”

Transactional politics

Gordon said he would lead by example, by being “firm and resolute,” noting that Arroyo’s biggest fault was to engage in “transactional politics.”

This compromised Arroyo’s leadership, Gordon noted. “You have to be resolute in so far as leadership is concerned,” he said.

Gordon also faulted Arroyo for appointing Merceditas Gutierrez, a law school batchmate of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, to the Ombudsman.

However, some citizens who were engaged online during the ANC forum said that Gordon sounded like an apologist for Arroyo.

Hot seat

Escudero was first to be on the hot seat, and Monzon-Palma did not pull any punches. She immediately zeroed in on Escudero’s campaign donors and track record as a representative of Sorgoson province.

Asked by Palma who his campaign contributors were when he ran for senator in 2007, Escudero merely said he had about 60 to 100 donors.

But he did not identify anyone, except his party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition. (He admitted before to Newsbreak that tobacco magnate Lucio Tan contributed to his campaign. This was not declared in his statement of expenditures and donations).

As Sorsogon district representative, he said he received about half a billion pesos pork barrel allocation during his nine-year stint in the House, and these went to the electrification projects.

Families

Panlilio, a suspended Catholic priest, was also put on the spot by co-host Ricky Carandang on the issue of family planning.

The Pampanga governor refused to give a direct answer on whether he would push for family planning as a policy. “These things are delicate matter, critical issues. I believe that there should be more opportunities and room for discussion and dialogue.”

Roxas, for his part, also hedged when asked by Monzon-Palma if marriage will take place between him and broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez once he formally declares his candidacy.

This prompted Monzon-Palma to direct asked Roxas if he was merely using Sanchez to boost his presidential bid.

Roxas parried the question by saying such criticism was being made by his critics, whom he described as “inggit lang (merely envious).”

As expected, the aspirants, with the exception of Teodoro, choose to play it safe with their answers, resorting to motherhood statements.

Gordon said he would lead by example, Panlilio vowed “love and service to the nation,”  while Roxas delivered morality and justice statements.

Escudero was strongest on corruption against Arroyo, even saying he would not mind coalescing with Manny Pacquiao’s party in the 2010 polls as long as he does not bring along President Arroyo.

Source : www.abs-cbnnews.com

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