Villar: NP-NPC merger legal

GEN. SANTOS CITY - Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Manny Villar said Sunday the alliance between the NP and Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) is legal, having been duly authorized by officials of the two parties.

Villar made the comments to dispute the allegation of an NPC stalwart from this city that the coalition did not have the approval of the top officials of the party, the second biggest political group in the country.

"It is very logical because my running mate, Loren Legarda, is from NPC while I am from the NP. So that union is very solid," Villar told reporters at the General Santos City airport here.

The former Senate president pointed out that many present members of the NPC are original stalwarts of the NP, a reason he said the coalition was welcomed by many NPC members.

Villar said a big number of members from the party are "very willing to support" their candidate for president in the May elections.

"Ang higit na nakararami ay talaga namang sumusuporta sa tambalang Villar-Loren," he told reporters.

After the agreement of the NPC and NP merger was signed by duly authorized representatives of the two parties, Villar said hearings were conducted at the Commission on Elections, which eventually approved the coalition union.

"It has since become legal," he said.

The NP presidential bet said some NPC members would naturally oppose the coalition, but "they only belong to the minority."

"A bigger number approves the union and is in full support of the Villar-Loren tandem," he added.

On another issue, Villar vowed to work even harder as the May elections draw closer.

He said the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations showing him trailing Aquino by merely 8 percentage points elated him and raised hopes he would soon tie or surpass the LP presidential bet in the remaining days before the elections.

He said scores in surveys could easily change because of certain factors that determine the choice of people of their candidate for president in the coming days.

And as the elections draw near, Villar said local officials and organizations begin to think whom to support for president.