Chiz Escudero Decides Against Running In 2010 Philippine Elections

Kris Alingod – AHN Contributor Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Tuesday announced that he would not run in next year’s elections but insisted that he would keep his eye on the presidency. The leading candidates in polls, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino of the Liberal Party, has invited him to join his campaign. In an emotional press conference, the 40-year-old Escudero said, “I’ve always said that for me, it’s the presidency but not at all cost. Not at the cost of losing my soul, not at the cost of losing myself, not at the cost by being eaten up by the system and the process and certainly not at the cost of not being able to do the things that I was and set out to do.” He added in Filipino, “I have decided that even without being a candidate, I have a role to play as a Filipino and ordinary voter in this day and age… I am just as sad as you are, but with this sadness is the dream and promise that I continue to hope for: the promise of a new nation, the promise of a new change.” Escudero said he thought the decision would be easy, and that his abrupt departure from his party last month was part of his process of determining his plans without being tied to any outside agenda. The senator unexpectedly left the Nationalist People’s Coalition on Oct. 28 after more than a decade in the party, a rarity in a nation where party loyalties often give way to political expediency. A former congressman who only four years ago was voted one of the nation’s Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), Escudero was key in the impeachment efforts against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2005. He made his announcement less than week before the period for filing of certificates of candidacy at the Commission on Elections ends, and six months before voters cast ballots. Escudero was reported in recent weeks as considering a vice presidential run instead, a move that would have pitted him against Sen. Loren Legarda, another lawmaker popular among young voters. Legarda has welcomed Escudero’s announcement, but reminded voters about his broken pledge. “Three months ago, he asked me to be his vice presidential running mate, to which I agreed to in my desire to help present a meaningful platform of governance to our people,” Legarda said. “I am now asking Senator Escudero to join me in my fight – no make that our common battle – to help solve our country’s many problems, like poverty, hunger and the threats of climate change.” Legarda, a former late night news anchorwoman and the 2004 opposition party vice presidential candidate, is the only woman to top a national race twice. She is running under the Nacionalista Party ticket of Sen. Manny Villar, the richest member of the Senate. Aquino, meanwhile, called his colleague’s decision “a choice based on principle and on the need to promote a kind of leadership that goes beyond usual politics.” He added, “I am grateful for his friendship and I hope that I can convince him to join our team.” The only son of the late former President Corazon Aquino, the senator is ahead among a crowded field of presidential hopefuls in the latest Pulse Asia survey. His running mate is Sen. Mar Roxas, husband of a popular broadcast journalist and the grandson of Manuel Roxas, the nation’s first president. Roxas said in an interview with radio station DZRH on Tuesday he respects the decision of Escudero, whom he described as a friend and a fellow advocate in many causes. “Our party holds him in high regard,” Roxas said in Filipino. “We are really inviting him to join the cause of the Liberal Party and the People’s Campaign for change. That is what we seek: significant and real change.” The ruling party’s candidate, Gilberto Teodoro, was silent about the move by Escudero, but posted a story on his campaign website about a protest against the visit by Aquino and Roxas in Pampanga, the home province of the President. The protest was by supporters of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition and farm workers from Hacienda Luisita, an estate owned by Aquino’s family where 14 farmers were killed in 2004 while demonstrating for better wages and the implementation of the land reform. Teodoro, a Harvard Law School graduate and son of one of the nation’s richest men, is running with actor Edu Manzano as his running mate. The Philippines is holding its first fully automated national elections in May. Other contenders for the presidency include former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who was ousted and convicted of plunder, and Hermogenes Ebdane, who resigned as Public Works Department secretary last month to begin his campaign. Article � AHN – All Rights Reserved

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