Senator Loren Legarda recently agreed to become Senator Manny Villar’s running mate in the upcoming 2010 elections. A lot of people have actually seen this coming for a while now and it was only a matter of time before she announced this publicly. In fact, Manny Villar has been giving a lot of teasers leading up to the announcement, calling his running mate a “green advocate”. Anyway, there’s nothing really wrong with political alliances but I do have one question that I hope Senator Legarda can shed light on.
When Senator Jamby Madrigal filed the case against Villar, he was later ousted from the Senate Presidency. What’s interesting is that Senator Loren Legarda was actually one of the Senators who signed the resolution ousting Villar. According to reports on Inquirer, she was also a supporter of the investigation. But now that she’s the running mate, she was one of the 12 senators who voted to dismiss the case.
Here are some excerpts of the article on Legarda accepting Villar’s invitation.
“He told me, ‘I believe in your platform on environment, agriculture and climate change,’ and I said, ‘I believe in your platform on helping migrant workers and pushing for their rights.’ In that respect, we clicked right away,” Legarda told this reporter.
She said she made it clear to Villar that the next administration should focus on the environment as the cornerstone of the overarching goal to defeat poverty in the land.
“I want the country to be great again, green again, and what I bring to the vice presidency is a green economy, investments and jobs, and green sustainable development,” said Legarda, who has championed environmental causes for over two decades.
Here’s a puzzling answer of hers on why she picked Villar:
Asked why she chose Villar over other presidential aspirants, Legarda said: “I woke up one day realizing that our platform and aspirations for this country, especially uplifting the poor’s lot in life, converged.”
And here’s what I think she needs to explain further:
Told that she once criticized Villar’s decision not to participate in the Senate probe of accusations that his real estate empire had benefited from the C-5 Road project, Legarda said: “I don’t even call that criticism. In a democracy, you allow all views to come out. I wanted it to come out so that we can listen to all views.”
She said she would not prejudge the results of the investigation.
“A committee report is coming out. All I can say is let the people decide in next year’s elections. I will not prejudge him and the issue,” Legarda said.
In a separate talk with Senate reporters Monday, Legarda said she would attend on Tuesday the announcement by Villar of his choice for running mate.
Asked about the prospects of an NP-NPC coalition, she said the colors orange (NP) and green (her campaign color) were a good combination.
I don’t know if her office will answer this post but I hope that she really does explain more, especially on her flip-flopping stance on the investigation against her new running mate.
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That’s why I categorize many politicians as leeches and chameleons. Kalaban mo dati, ngayon kakampihan ka dahil malakas hatak mo sa kampanya.
It’s no secret that these “trapos” need to get their name in the news. They do that by criticizing each other or by creating some sort of “moro-moro” expose. They don’t really do that because they care. They do that to get noticed. KSP baga!
As for Legarda, she already got noticed by Villar… that’s why she’s singing a different tune.
Maawa’t mahabag naman sila sa Pilipinas! Wala sila sa tamang tono! Kaya nagkakaroon ng mga “freak storms” eh… panay kasi ang kanta nila ng mali!
Talk about integrity, here is Sen Loren’s own press release from the Senate:
“Nakakalungkot yung nabasa ko sa dyaryo noong Martes. Sabi ni Sen. Manny Villar na kung wala ka raw P1 billion, huwag mo ng ituloy ang balak mo bilang pangulo . . . Pera-pera na lang ba ang eleksyon? . . . Basta may pera pwera na ba ang lahat?” These were some of the words of Senator Loren Legarda’s in a press release dated March 4, 2009 issued in response to Senator Manny Villar’s assertion that you need at least P1 billion to run a credible presidential campaign.
“Kapag ganito ang sistema wala na tayong pinagkaiba sa isang gang. Kung sino ang may pera, siya ang magdidikta ng lahat . . . ito ay insulto sa taong bayan na pera lang daw ang katapat ng desisyon ng bawat Pilipino, ng kanilang karapatang pumili ng kanilang pinuno”, the press statement concluded.
Pingback: Loren Legarda’s previous statement against Manny Villar | Juan Country
I think they went on some consultations and talks before they went for this tandem, kaya nga hindi pre-mature itong andem na ito. they all went into hard desicion-making.
well, maybe this time they are in the samr page regarding national issues that should be given attention from day one of the new president after the may election of 2010.
i think this tandem may work, because they criticize and discussed important matters giving all the sides and angles, hindi biased. Hindi “OO, sige maganda yan kasi ikaw ang nagsabi”
I can see respect from both this two politician for each other. they respect their own desiscions and flaws.
Villar-Loren is a great tandem.
Both has invaluable experiences..
at least sen. villar has already forgiven and forgotten. why cant you ???? anyway, the witnesses of madrigal failed to establish the guilt of manny villar beyond reasonable doubt. anyway, your beloved MAR ROXAS is a very close relative of MIKE AND IGGY’JOSE PIDAL’ ARROYO. KAYA NGA BA NANG NANGHINA NA LANG ANG TITA GLO NYA SIYA LUMIPAT SA OPPOSITION. OH , BY THE WAY KAYA NYA MINURA S GLO NOON DAHIL SAKIM DIN SIYA SA KAPANG YARIHAN TULAD NI TITO MIKE???? NA NAGCONCEDE KAY NOY DAHIL MABABA SA RANKINGS KAHIT MAY PINAKAMARAMING GASTOS,,,,