Strange bedfellows
The alliance between the Liberal Party (LP) and the Nacionalista Party (NP) leaves a bad taste in the mouth, knowing that Noynoy and rival Manuel Villar in the 2010 presidential campaign period threw at each other all the dirt and muck possible.
Villar, through the instigation of now some of the staunchest allies of Noynoy, faced an ethics investigation in the Senate over the C-5 extension controversy and he was accused of inserting a double entry in the budget for the project that gave him both kickbacks and windfall profits from the increased valuation of his properties found around the government-paid development.
Several other more bitter accusations were thrown by the LP, specifically against Villar, to the extent of even calling him Villarroyo for supposedly being the secret candidate of Gloria in the 2010 elections. Noynoy, then a senator, was part of that band of accusers against Villar.
The NP, in exchange, had demanded that Noynoy bare to the public his psychological profile after a series of documents surfaced showing Noynoy’s past psychiatric problems including severe depression and his obsessive intent to wreak vengeance on those he believes hurt his family members and himself, with him saying that it is only political power that can enable him to hurt his foes in the way they hurt him and his family.
Noynoy and Malacañang of the hypocritical straight path advocacy are saying now that all that was part of campaigning during the period and saw nothing wrong with the LP and the NP candidates standing in one podium with Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda even rising in the defense of Villar, saying the Senate did not pass a resolution censuring the senator in connection with the alleged C-5 road anomaly.
To recall, it was also another NP member, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, whom Lacierda said adhered to the principle of “good government” of Noynoy and was certainly welcome in the LP slate, who had ensured that the Senate resolution against Villar, would not be passed. That’s good government?
Lacierda said the accusations exchanged by both camps were mere words that are expected during the heat of the election campaigns and both parties are now “moving on for the sake of the country.”
Apparently, Villar’s supposed misdeeds as an elected official were all officially wiped off after forming a coalition with Noynoy’s LP.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also accused Villar shortly before the elections of raising P5 billion for his presidential campaign kitty from an allegedly irregular transaction involving his real estate firm’s shares.
All these are now things of the past, according to Palace, since Villar had been supportive of the Aquino administration’s legislative proposals in the Senate.
He said the LP and the NP recognize what’s important for the country, and both parties will rise above political differences.
The alliance formed between both parties is consistent with the policy of Noynoy that all those who side with him are immaculately clean while those on the other side of the fence “seek the return of the old crooked ways.”
The alliance is a matter of political expediency since both the NP and the LP are hard put to complete a competitive lineup for the national elections next year against the deep bench in the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) which is also assured of three strong endorsers from the UNA leadership composed of former President Joseph Estrada, Vice President Jojo Binay and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
The fact that never was there a time that the LP and the NP were seen to have fielded bets in a coalition except possibly during the martial law years, points to the level of urgency, if not desperation, primarily in the LP in forming a credible challenge against the UNA lineup.
The unwieldy relationship is expected to end at the same time the counting of votes end by next year.
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