MANILA - In 2007, a lawmaker filed a bill which sought to bar public officials who switched political parties from running in the succeeding electoral race. Three years before that, however, the very same legislator jumped ship from the administration party to become the vice presidential candidate of the opposition camp.

Fast forward. It’s déjà vu for this same person who recently switched allegiances and is making her second try at the vice presidency. You can readily guess who she is: Sen. Loren Legarda.

Legarda is again defending herself from criticisms first hurled at her five years ago when she left the administration party Lakas-CMD to join the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), a member of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino. She then teamed up with KNP's presidential contender Fernando Poe Jr.

Legarda, this time around, may not have changed camps, but is reeling from similar accusations of shifting sides after she decided to run with Nacionalista Party standard bearer Sen. Manuel ‘Manny’ Villar – her colleague whose downfall as Senate president she helped make possible in 2008.

But while critics slam her ephemeral loyalty – she is a climate change advocate because ‘she will always change to the climate that is favorable to her,’ as how Sen. Jamby Madrigal put it – one cannot deny the fact that Legarda is a vote-getter. 

Running on a platform of environmental protection and women empowerment, she made history by topping the Senate polls twice. In 1998, she got over 15 million votes, while in 2007, she was elected again to the Senate with 18 million votes.

Legarda only lost once in her political career – when she failed in her VP bid in 2004. The seat went to her fellow ABS-CBN anchor Noli de Castro, who won over her by a margin of 800,000 votes.   

She blamed her loss on electoral fraud, and questioned De Castro’s triumph at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. The PET threw out her petition in 2008, however.   

Stop the magic 

Benito Lim, a professor of political science from the Ateneo de Manila University, said that, this time, the administration is not part of the equation as its VP contender, actor Edu Manzano, is not a De Castro. “We’re ruling out Edu,” Lim said. The other contender for VP, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, has failed to land at the top three in national surveys.

Between Legarda and Roxas, however, Lim believes that “Roxas has the edge. The fact is, Roxas will have a solid vote from Visayas.”  Roxas served three terms as representative of the first district of Capiz from 1993-2000 and belongs to the Roxas political clan of Western Visayas. 

Legarda, on one hand, could expect the support of Antique, Panay where she was born. Her mother, Bessie Gella Bautista is from the province and her maternal great granduncle Vicente Gella used to be its governor. Legarda speaks Ilonggo and Kinaray-a, a language of Antique folk.  

Antique Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez said that she will support Legarda’s bid for VP, as the NPC candidate is her niece. In 2004, Legarda got 123, 780 votes from the province, which is double that of De Castro’s 65, 069 votes. 

Roxas, like Legarda, also topped the senatorial elections. In 2004, he got 19 million votes, the most that a national candidate got in Philippine history. Right before he slid to the number two post to give way to Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in September 2009, Roxas has been neck and neck with Legarda in the presidential polls. 

In the Pulse Asia survey on vice presidential candidates conducted in October, Roxas got 37%, topping Legarda who got 23%. Legarda’s standing improved by 4% from the last survey conducted in July. Pulse Asia emphasized, however, that the difference between the voter preference for Roxas and Legarda is marginal.

Roxas has not been included in the previous surveys, as he was considered a presidential candidate then. 

Legarda still trailed Roxas, though, in the Social Weather Stations survey for preferred vice-presidential contenders conducted from September 18-21, 2009. Roxas got 40%, while Legarda was tied with De Castro at 23%.

Legarda’s main challenge is to defeat the “Cory magic” that has cascaded to Roxas, political analyst Ramon Casiple said.

Casiple explained that Roxas’s lead in the vice-presidential poll was largely driven by his association with LP standard bearer and son of the late president Corazon Aquino, Sen. ‘Noynoy’ Aquino.  

Selling the message 

NPC spokesperson Rex Gatchalian was quick to point out though, that Legarda only declared her VP bid in late October. He added that by next year, the ‘Cory magic’ will start to wear off.  

Gatchalian emphasized that what Legarda bought to the plate which the other VP contenders did not is a clear selling image. She has projected herself as an environmentalist since she started public office in 1998.

Legarda’s legislative track record has so far supported this advocacy – one of the first legislative measures she authored was Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Her major accomplishment for this year also included the passage of Senate Bill No. 2583 or the Climate Change Act of 2009. 

Legarda also established the Luntiang Pilipinas movement, which claims to have planted two million trees. In 2004, however, Newsbreak reported that the program overlooked the components of reforestation – the need for biodiversity, the appropriate number of seedlings to be planted, the distance between the seedlings planted, etc. During that time, the trees’ survival rate has been reported to be only 30-40%.

Legarda has been recognized by the global community for her green advocacies, though, with the United Nations designating her as the UN Regional Champion for Climate Change. But while being a green candidate could set her apart from other contenders, Gatchalian admitted that “communicating her platform” is their major concern.

Tropical storms Ondoy and Peping in September highlighted the issue of climate change and Legarda capitalized on this. As chair of the committee on climate change, she would talk about this issue in different provinces.

In one of these trips, in Lupang Arenda in Taytay, Rizal, Legarda mingled with ordinary folk, hugged the elderly, and walked among a crowd chanting her name – Loren! Loren!

She would later mention this when she announced her candidacy for the vice-presidency in October.

Gatchalian stressed that they would still need to “make environmental issues more understandable…connect them to food security, how they affect everyday lives.”

Aside from mainstreaming climate change, Legarda unveiled her platform which includes:

• development of the agricultural sector;
• protection of Overseas Filipino Workers;
• elimination of corruption;
• restoration of peace in Mindanao; and
• rejuvenation of Filipino culture.