KOKO PIMENTEL - UNA's loss; AQUINO's gain

SENATOR KOKO PIMENTEL HAS BEEN RESERVED A FRONT SEAT IN THE SENATORIAL LINE-UP FOR THE 2013 ELECTION BY THE LIBERAL PARTY OF PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO.

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III remains a "priority" for the administration party after he officially bolted the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) Thursday, a spokesperson said.

House Deputy Speaker and Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, spokesperson for the Aquino-led Liberal Party (LP), said Pimentel is welcome to join the 2013 senatorial ticket of the administration party.

"His name was earlier mentioned as a candidate for the administration. I believe he is one of the priorities for the slate," Tañada said.

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Senator Koko Pimentel a 'priority' in admin 2013 line-up | Sun.Star

 

BINAY SLAMS DOOR ON EX-SPEAKER PROSPERO NOGRALES' ENTRY INTO PDP

If Dabawenyos cringed at the thought of Nograles as a politician and voted him down in his three bids for the mayoral seat, the feeling is the same even in the higher echelons of the national political scene.
    Nobody wants to be in the company of the former Davao City First District congressman and former House Speaker, except maybe the discredited former president Gloria Arroyo.
    Vice President Jejomar Binay, president of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP) said Nograles has not applied for membership in the PDP, but his body language when interviewed by Davao City-based media showed Nograles may have no room in the party if he decides to join.
    Binay was in Davao City last week as guest speaker in an assembly of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) officials and a mining conference organized by the Philippine Society of Mining Engineers.
    The vice president, whose party has coalesced with the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada under the United Nationalists Alliance (UNA), said however that PDP has accepted Mayor Sara Duterte's resignation from the party.
    Binay's feeling about Nograles echoed down to Wendel Avisado, PDP secretary general and deputy commissioner of the Housing and Land Use and Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) headed by Binay.
    Avisado, who resigned as Davao city councilor shortly after the 2010 elections to join Binay, said PDP has closed the door for Nograles' entry into the party.
    Excuse me, but there is no basis for Nograles to be accepted as a member of PDP, said Avisado who accompanied Binay in the Davao City sortie.
    Avisado said however that the PDP would still support the Dutertes. ROGER M. BALANZA