The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

MANILA, Philippines - The race is on for presidential candidates beginning today, after months of unofficial free-for-all.

The frontrunner, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, kicks off his campaign in his home province of Tarlac, at his family’s old house in Concepcion.

He and his running mate Sen. Manuel Roxas II, as well as LP senatorial candidates, will hold a motorcade to the Aquino Museum and then to the municipalities of Bamban, Capas and Tarlac City.

The Nacionalista Party led by its standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. kicks off its “90-day journey to a better Philippines” in Calamba, Laguna, the birthplace of national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, with visits to public markets.

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MANILA, Philippines - The Senate adjourned session yesterday without a vote on the Committee of the Whole’s report on the C-5 road controversy involving Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar Jr. as he and his allies in the minority did not show up.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, and Senators Jamby Madrigal, Richard Gordon and Rodolfo Biazon assailed the apparent “boycott” by Villar and his allies.

They said their absence compromised other pending bills as well as the Blue Ribbon Committee’s report on the national broadband network controversy, which held President Arroyo, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and other officials accountable for the overpriced project.

Absent at yesterday’s last session aside from Villar and Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. were Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Manuel Lapid, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

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That’s how political observers see the VP race in 2010

Trust the campaign veterans to look at events from unexpected perspectives.

One strategist, who has been through several national campaigns, instantly shared with Newsbreak a comment when the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party announced on Friday that former Optical Media Board chair Edu Manzano would be its vice presidential bet for 2010.

“So it’s going to be Korina vs Loren vs Pinky now?” he said. The comment is in reference to Manzano’s known close friendship with ABS-CBN news talent Pinky Webb.

Come to think of it, those running for vice president next year are either related one way or another to ABS-CBN news talents, if not talents themselves.

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The estranged husband of Senator Loren Legarda on Saturday expressed support for her rumored presidential bid in 2010 saying she will make a “good president,” especially for the Muslims in the Philippines.

“I have affected her so much that I’m sure that if she was President, she would care for the interest and welfare of the Muslims,” former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste said in a speech on Saturday at the Third International Conference of Muslim Leaders held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.

“This is regardless of how she feels towards me,” said Leviste in an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.

Leviste is a Muslim convert. He also carries the name Omar Al-Thani Leviste. He spoke on the good business opportunities for the Filipino Muslims today.

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