Miriam: Lakas-Kampi tandem 'underwhelming'

MANILA - After getting the nod of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD as its presidential bet in 2010, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro faces an uphill task of winning the support of Filipino voters dissatisfied with the performance of the Arroyo administration.

Opposition leaders on Wednesday said Teodoro will have to carry the burden of defending the record of the Arroyo government, which has suffered from below zero net satisfaction ratings since the "Hello Garci" election scandal in 2005.

"To us, the issue here is not Teodoro, it's President Arroyo and her record. Teodoro will have to defend the record of the GMA administration," Liberal Party Chairman Franklin Drilon told ANC's On The Scene. "That is the issue now."

United Opposition spokesman and former Senator Ernesto Maceda said in a separate ANC interview that as the Lakas-Kampi standard bearer, Teodoro will "have to be the defender of the record of GMA, and that is the SOP [standard operating procedure] for an administration candidate."

As the administration bet, Maceda said Teodoro will have to "suffer under that handicap."

Based on the Social Weather Stations (SWS) August 2009 survey on the overall performance of the Arroyo administration, its net satisfaction rating was minus 11 or "poor." However, this was an improvement from minus 19 in February 2009.

Except for a brief period in the 2007 mid-term polls, the Arroyo administration has had to face a dissatisfied public for the past four years or since 2005.

The public is most dissatisfied with the Arroyo government's performance in eradicating graft and corruption (minus 21) and addressing hunger (minus 21).

Maceda said the low ratings of Teodoro in the previous presidential surveys are indicative of the unpopularity of the Arroyo government.

Teodoro got only 0.2% support in the August 2009 survey of Pulse Asia.

Three-way opposition race?

Maceda, a veteran political strategist, said Teodoro's candidacy will hurt that of his cousin, Senator Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III, the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party.

He noted that Teodoro and Aquino both come from the same region, Central Luzon.

Maceda said the United Opposition would have been more worried if Lakas-Kampi-CMD had chosen Vice-President Noli de Castro, who has been competitive in the surveys vis-à-vis the opposition presidential aspirants.

"We welcome his (Teodoro) entry because we were a little more concerned if Noli was the administration candidate. Because Noli was drawing votes from the masa, D and E votes. And in terms of President Estrada, the non-official candidacy of Noli would release some of his D and E votes to us," he said.

Maceda predicted that the 2010 race will mainly be between Nacionalista Party candidate, Senator Manny Villar, former President Joseph Estrada, and the LP's Aquino.

He said he expects Teodoro's rating to rise following his endorsement by the ruling party, but it won't be significant.

"At 0.2% [in Pulse Asia August 2009 survey], he would improve to 3 to 4%, but not much more. GMA is quite a big disadvantage. And secondly, he is considered as belonging to the elite," Maceda said.

Teodoro comes from the wealthy Cojuangco clan of Tarlac.

Drilon, meanwhile, said he believes that Villar, Estrada and Teodoro will be fighting for second place since Aquino, based on the September 2009 SWS survey in select areas of Luzon, showed Aquino preferred by 50% of respondents. (Read: 50% prefer Noynoy in vote-rich Luzon areas: SWS survey) 

"Maybe they [Villar, Estrada, Teodoro] will fight for 2nd place, the three of them. But we are so far ahead because Noynoy is the people's candidate in this race. the people are looking for a reform candidate, and that candidate is Noynoy Aquino," Drilon said.

Senator Francis Escudero, a possible presidential candidate of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), said no one should belittle the administration machinery.

"Hindi dapat tawaran ang kakayanan ng kandidatura ni Gilbert dahil administration party candidate siya, may makinarya ang administrasyon, sila ang nakapuwesto ngayon. At sino man ang tumatakbo, hindi rin dapat tawaran ang kanilang kakayanan.

The Lakas-Kampi-CMD boasts of having the support of 70% of elected local officials.

'Underwhelmed'

Despite this, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that it will be an "every man for himself" scenario, downplaying the administration party's ability to draw votes through their elected local officials.

"There is no such thing as a machinery when it comes down to the nitty-gritty... It's every man for himself," Santiago said.

She said she is also "underwhelmed" by the possible Teodoro tandem with Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

"It's underwhelming as a tandem... The ratings are so low, that it leaves a person wondering whether the gap can possibly be closed before the May elections," she said.

Political image builder Charlie Agatep, however, said Teodoro's ratings in polls could still rise if he gives the "right message."

"If he delivers the right messages, if he stands for good governance and anti corruption, palagay ko naman tataas ang rating niya," Agatep said.

One suggestion is for Teodoro to distance himself from the current president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"Ang tao parang gusto nila magbago ng administration," he said.

Lakas-Kampi's challenge

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Wednesday the Lakas-Kampi-CMD's next challenge is how to make Teodoro more popular to voters.

"It is our task now to push for the better awareness of the party's candidate. We will see in the coming months when surveys are held and how they will fare," he said.

Ermita said Teodoro's low popularity in recent surveys--0.2% in the August 2009 survey of Pulse Asia--would serve as a challenge to the party's members.

"These recent surveys, where our candidate has not registered well, will serve as a challenge...This will be a challenge for our candidate," he said.

He added that the party is capable of bringing up Teodoro's survey ratings as it is "the most organized, the biggest and the strongest party."

"We are certain that the result of the surveys will change dramatically and drastically. The party is made up of 70 percent of all incumbent officials," said Lakas-Kampi-CMD secretary-general Gabriel Claudio.

"Ang aming mga followers sa probinsya, naghihintay sino ang aming standard-bearer. Ngayon alam na nila sino standard-berarer, full swing na rin ang kanilang paghingi ng tulong sa mga kasamahan namin," said party deputy secretary-general Raymundo Roquero.

In an interview over ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda on Wednesday, Teodoro also expressed confidence that his survey ratings will go up once the Lakas-Kampi-CMD picks him as its standard-bearer. With reports from Ces Oreña Drilon and Maricar Bautista, ABS-CBN News