OPPOSITION GROUPS URGED TO HOLD UNIFICATION CONVENTION

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged various opposition groups to hold a national convention as part of the steps to unify their forces and to field a common presidential candidate in the 2010 elections.

Pimentel, chairman of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, said the holding of a national unification convention is one of the practical ways by which the opposition parties can choose a single standard bearer in a most democratic, fair and transparent manner.

He said the opposition is fortunate to have a stable of bankable presidential aspirants. But he said it could also be a curse to them if they will fight each other, instead of joining forces to defeat their common foe - the party in power and its presidential candidate.

"There are so many opposition leaders aspiring to be president in the opposition camp. But political realities make it imperative for the opposition to choose and support only one common candidate of the opposition. The others have give way and sacrifice their political ambition. Otherwise, they are courting electoral defeat," the senator from Mindanao said.

The opposition's presidential hopefuls include former President Joseph Estrada (Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino), Senators Manuel Villar (Nacionalista Party), Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero (Nationalist People's Coalition), Mar Roxas (Liberal Party) and Panfilo Lacson and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay (PDP-Laban).

Pimentel said he is proposing each of the presidential contenders in the opposition will be allowed to nominate an equal number of delegates to the convention, to be nominated by their respective parties and the aspirants themselves.

During the convention, all the presidential aspirants will be requested to address the delegates and present their platforms of government. The delegates will then cast their votes through secret balloting. Whoever will get the highest number of votes will be proclaimed winner and official presidential bet of the united opposition.

Pimentel said the leaders various parties, together with the presidential aspirants, should meet as early as possible to draw up the rules and mechanics of the selection process and to make preparations for the national unification convention.

He lauded the initiative of Mr. Estrada in taking steps to unify the opposition forces and persuading the aspirants to agree on one common standard bearer.