Elections

Sen Gordon may join Lakas selection process

Senator Richard Gordon has indicated that he may join the selection process for the candidate of Lakas-CMD for the coming presidential elections, provided that the future standard bearer of the party will be chosen according to the right criteria. This was at the core of the statement that was made by the senator on Wednesday.

He said that there was an offer from President Fidel Ramos for him to join the party, and he is considering this offer and he may indeed join the selection process as long as the procedure will not include popularity of the candidate as one of the criteria. Others in the party may point to the need to have a very popular candidate in order to get the votes, but in the mind of Senator Gordon this factor should be kept private in order to effectively prevent mind conditioning. The senator is referring to the latest surveys released last month by the Social Weather Stations where he managed to get only one percent. On that survey made from April 16 to May 6 the names of Senators Miriam Santiago, Francis Pangilinan and MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando as the ‘Best Leader to Succeed President Arroyo in 2010’. If Senator Gordon is to followed, the political surveys should not be the main factor in selection, rather this should serve as a guide only and this should not be used to massage the minds of the people, or this should be used to create that bandwagon effect.

Senator Gordon was part of the administration’s K-4 when he ran successfully for a senate seat. But he has remained as an independent up until this time, and refused to join ranks with the Lakas-CMD or the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino. He added that he will join a party that will also advocate his principle of no corruption, good governance and integrity of the candidate. His stand against surveys as a way to select the candidates is in reaction to the leading names now occupying the top slots in many surveys. Right now, Senators De Castro, Villar, Legarda, Escudero and Roxas are the names often mentioned on top and near the top of the surveys.