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Under which party will I run?

Now that Mar Roxas has junked his presidential run, the composition of the senatorial slate of the Liberal Party will change. You have heard from the party's honorable men who are in the partial list. We will see if Noynoy will follow the list that Mar has prepared, or if he will get some more from outside LP, or add some from civil society.

At this point in the time-space continuum (as my freshmen students at Ateneo would put it), I guess one of the main criterion should be the candidates' winnability. What good would it be if you stuff your slate with do-gooders who are not known throughout the nation? It would be difficult, at this point, to short-circuit the awareness-endearment-passion triad that goes on in the hearts and minds of the voters.

And so, my cellphone has begun to beep and beep again this morning.

One of the messages came from the lawyer of a presidential candidate who belongs to a party with a vast machinery. He congratulated me on -- and may I quote -- "your still-high ranking in the Pulse Asia senatorial survey."

This was the survey where I said I became a victim of vote-shaving. Survey pa lang, may dagdag-bawas na? My real ranking and percentage was changed by this big, rich political party that commissioned the survey, which had legal rights to the dissemination of the results thereof. And, also, may I ask pointedly: the right to shave some points from the other presidential candidates, and from this maverick front-runner in the senatorial race?

So early in the game, I thought, and already playing the dirty card?

Another text message this morning came from the presidentiable himself, whose party has a formidable war chest. He said that if LP does not include me in their slate, "it's their loss. Our door is open for you. Just say when." Followed with a smiley ;-)

O ayan. The coast is clear na, ha. Darna na ito!

Let us see what are the plans of the Liberal Party. Then as my friend Tina would put it, "We will see what we will see."

Deadlines, decisions, lifelines should be clear by September 30.
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