The ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD won’t bend over backward to coax Vice President Noli de Castro to be its standard-bearer in May 2010, officials said on Saturday.
But the man is not keen on running for president, whether as an administration, opposition or independent candidate, according to a source who knows him well.
“He has no plans. He’s not interested in anything. That’s why he’s been quiet all this time,” said the source, who refused to be named for lack of authority to speak publicly on the matter.
The source added that De Castro viewed a presidential run with the scandal-plagued administration as “a kiss of death.”
Prospero Pichay, Lakas-Kampi-CMD vice president for membership, said there would be no last-ditch attempt to convince De Castro to make the commitment.
Pichay also ruled out the need for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to meet with De Castro and prod him to be her successor.
“We will not call or talk to him. We want a candidate who has the heart and fire to run because he wants to serve the people,” Pichay said on the phone.
“Why force the man to serve the Filipino people? That will be unfair to the country. The willingness to serve should not be forced on anyone. It should come from within,” he said.
The coalition has been wooing De Castro to be its main man and has given him all the time to decide.
It set September 15 as the deadline for him to sign up and submit to its selection process. It is to name its standard-bearer the next day.
“We can’t say the administration has given up on him because it has given him a deadline to join the party. Let’s see what happens on that day,” Undersecretary Anthony Golez, a spokesperson of Ms Arroyo, said over radio dzRB.
But according to the source, De Castro will not cast his lot with the ruling coalition because he fears this will doom his candidacy.
Said the source: “Lakas has been courting him, but he knows it’s a kiss of death. But he’s a decent man to say it’s a kiss of death. You can see it from his body language. Despite the promise of machinery and the support of local government officials, he’s not responding [to the overtures].”
Since their last meeting, the source said, De Castro had not sought advice regarding the administration’s persistent overtures—a sign that he had quietly made up his mind.
“He’s not interested anymore,” the source said.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita had earlier said only Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando were in the party’s radar screen, but quickly clarified that De Castro was still in the running.
With his consistently high survey ratings, De Castro is seen as the administration’s best bet against opposition candidates. But unlike Teodoro and Fernando, he is not a member of Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
The source said Arroyo was aware that De Castro was not planning to run for president: “Of course, she knows that. They’ve been talking.”
Arroyo virtually anointed De Castro late last month when she declared that he had “the traits of a good President.” But even then De Castro was noncommittal and merely said he would make his decision soon.
The source said he doubted De Castro—a news anchor and host of a public affairs show at ABS-CBN before he topped the senatorial race—would seek the presidency as an independent or opposition candidate.
If he runs as an independent, he faces the tough task of forming a new party and drafting his own presidential team and senatorial slate when everyone else has completed theirs, the source argued.
“He’ll be like Noynoy (Senator Benigno Aquino III) forming a new ticket, a new party, when every opponent has an existing party,” the source said, adding:
“[Besides] when he ran for senator, he was No. 1. No sweat. When he ran for vice president, he also won. Little sweat. This time he has to sweat it out. What for? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
The Vice President is also unlikely to align with another party and present himself for adoption as standard-bearer because he is averse to soliciting funds, according to the source.
