Erap to stick with Binay

Former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada, standard-bearer of the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)-Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP)-Laban coalition, will not drop Makati Mayor Jejomar C. Binay as his running mate to give way to Senator Loren Legarda in the vice presidential race in the May, 2010 elections.

“It would be difficult for me to take Senator Loren because I and my party have already committed ourselves to Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay to be my running mate,” Estrada said.

Estrada issued the statement in the wake of speculations that Legarda, a known opposition figure in the Senate, will team up with the former president after her party mate – Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero – left the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) last October 26 to do away with party decisions and let himself decide on his future political plans.

Political observers noted that Legarda, a staunch campaigner of environmental protection programs, is far better off than Binay in terms of survey results among vice presidential bets.

“And besides, we have already established a coalition between my party, PMP, and the PDP-Laban and there is no good reason to break this alliance,” the 72-year-old Estrada emphasized.

Shortly after Escudero, 40, decided to bolt the NPC, Legarda announced that she will pursue her vice presidential bid under the same political organization “with or without a presidential tandem.”

Faustino Dy Jr., NPC chairman, and party mate Rep. Mark Cojuangco of Tarlac expressed their full support to Legarda’s vice presidential aspiration.

Both Dy and Cojuangco, son of NPC chairman emeritus and influential businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., also declared that they will push through with their line up for the May, 2010 polls even if they fail to choose a formidable standard-bearer.

Escudero, who first joined the NPC in 1998 when he ran for a seat in Congress, forged an alliance with Estrada’s group in supporting the candidacy of the late movie king Fernando Poe Jr. when he ran in the May, 2004 presidential derby.

When asked about his reaction on Chiz’s resignation from the NPC, Erap said: “It is something internal between his party and himself. We have to respect his decision.”

Meanwhile, medical experts gave Estrada, considered the most senior among the presidential hopefuls in next year’s election, a clean bill of health to be able to survive the rigors of the campaign trail in the May, 2010 polls.

Estrada, now 72 years old, said his doctors from the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Greenhills, San Juan, have given him the “go signal” to engage in political activities after he was subjected to an extensive check-up less than a month ago.