Former Sen. Ramon \u201cJun\u201d Magsaysay Jr. on Friday confirmed that he is joining next year\u2019s senatorial election and would not mind running against Rep. Milagros \u201cMitos\u201d Magsaysay, a relative in Zambales.
\n\u201cI will give credit to voters. We have very educated voters and they will say who the more qualified candidate is, what the record of each of us is,\u201d Jun Magsaysay told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
\nFour scenarios
\n\u201cIf they want to vote for two Magsaysays, that\u2019s possible,\u201d he said, enumerating the scenarios. \u201cBut it might be that both of us will lose. Or she will win and I will lose or I will win and she may lose. There are four possible outcomes. I leave it to the voters. I believe in the voters\u2019 instinct and good intelligence.\u201d
\nThe 74-year-old Magsaysay, who completed his second term as senator in 2007, said he accepted an invitation to run under the ruling Liberal Party last May, after consulting with family and friends. He admitted that he considered Mitos Magsaysay\u2019s candidacy before making his decision.
\n\u201cI said I have to talk to my wife, family and I have to check with some other people in light of my niece, Mitos, who was also running,\u201d he recalled telling the group of Sen. Franklin Drilon, who sought to include him in the LP lineup.
\n\u201cI had to clear up everything and finally, all of these people gave me the go-signal,\u201d he added, noting, however, that it would be the LP national executive committee\u2014and President Aquino\u2014who would ultimately decide whether he would make it to the administration ticket.
\nMitos Magsaysay is the daughter-in-law of Jun Magsaysay\u2019s cousin, former Zambales Gov. Vicente Magsaysay. The former senator described his cousin as \u201clike a brother to me.\u201d He said he was in touch with Vicente, but has not talked with Mitos lately.
\n\u2018The real Magsaysay\u2019
\nDrilon broke the news about Jun Magsaysay\u2019s candidacy Thursday, saying the LP was fielding \u201cthe real Magsaysay.\u201d The statement was seen as an attack on Mitos Magsaysay, who earlier announced her senatorial bid under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
\nJun Magsaysay said he had no problem going against Mitos Magsaysay in the same senatorial race.
\n\u201cShe\u2019s her own person. She has her own qualifications and she has decided,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my case, [my decision to run is] exclusive of what she did. I was offered [a slot] by the administration party and I thought of it very well.\u201d
\nJun Magsaysay sought to \u201csimplify the issue\u201d between his and his niece\u2019s candidacy.
\n\u201cHere\u2019s a person who has been supporting the past administration (of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo). Mitos used to be with Lakas. Now, she is with UNA. That\u2019s fine,\u201d the former senator said.
\nNo switching loyalties
\nIn his case, Magsaysay said he \u201ctried to maintain the standards\u201d of his late father, former President Ramon Magsaysay. \u201cHindi naman ako pabali-balikwas (I don\u2019t switch loyalties),\u201d he said.
\nJun Magsaysay, who used to be with Arroyo\u2019s Senate coalition, noted that he investigated the P728-million fertilizer fund scam despite his alliance with the then President. The administration was then accused of diverting the fund and using it in the 2004 elections.
\n\u201cI continued the public hearings and I suffered then,\u201d he said, recalling Arroyo\u2019s Executive Order No. 464, which kept government officials from testifying in Congress without Palace approval.
\nWe waited for this leader
\nJun Magsaysay said he agreed to Drilon\u2019s invitation to continue the \u201creforms\u201d he tried to push while he was a senator from 1995 to 2007.
\n\u201cThe main thing was after the impeachment, it suddenly dawned on me that this is the leader that we have been waiting for,\u201d he said. \u201cThe President put out a lot of risk, and part of his political capital, to make this happen, to clean up the judiciary, starting with the highest.\u201d
\nBased on a number of sources from Malaca\u00f1ang and Congress, the President has personally taken a direct hand in filling the administration\u2019s senatorial ticket with his political allies from the Liberal Party making only recommendations.
\n\u201cMost of the President\u2019s choices are from other political parties and nongovernment organizations, with only two or three coming from the LP. This shows how involved the President is in the selection process and that current political affiliations would not get in the way of establishing firmer control of the Senate in the second half of his term,\u201d said a non-LP representative who requested anonymity.
\nFive reelectionists
\nAside from former Sen. Jun Magsaysay, the administration coalition slate would include the five reelectionists\u2014Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel III, Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano.
\nThe President has earlier named three of his bets\u2014Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva and former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros.
\nOther LP bets
\nThe sources said the President\u2019s first cousin, former National Youth Commission chair Paolo Benigno \u201cBam\u201d A. Aquino IV and Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares were \u201chigh\u201d on the list of the President. The sources said the President was also open to include former Las Pi\u00f1as Rep. Cynthia Villar, with negotiations between the LP and the Nacionalista Party going smoothly.
\nThe other candidates shortlisted by the President were Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Ta\u00f1ada III, Customs Chief Rufino Biazon and his deputy, former Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.
\nThe sources said both Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima have been asked to stay in their current posts.<\/p>\n