Senator JV Ejercito on Monday said he might join the Nationalist People’s Coalition, saying it won’t look good if he and his half-brother, former senator Jinggoy Estrada, would run under one party, PDP-Laban.
Estrada had said that If he pushes with his initial plan to seek reelection under the ruling party, it might look like a “family party.”
Estrada has repeatedly aired his plan to run for senator in the coming midterm elections in May 2019. He was a two-term senator, but his last term was cut short following his detention at the PNP Custodian Center in Camp Crame over pork-barrel charges.
“At first, I was supposed to transfer to PDP-Laban, but I won’t. Now, it’s either NPC or hopefully, Hugpong [ng Pagbabago] would adopt me. That would be the ideal party support that I would get,” he said.
Hugpong ng Pagbabago was the political party formed by presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
“And of course, I am happy that Mayor Inday Sara (Duterte) has already indicated that I would be supported by Hugpong… I’m quite confident that this will be the right combination— NPC and Hugpong for my reelection,” he said
Ejercito also said there would be no problem if he joins the NPC since he has many friends there, including Senate President, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who is a member of the NPC.
According to Ejercito, he would talk to his father, former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, to make formal his leaving his present political party, the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).
“I just hope he’ll understand the circumstances that it’s really not good that we both run under one party,” said Ejercito, adding that he might discuss the issue with his father next week.
He added that he had actually informed his father about this plan to move to another party and that the Manila mayor readily agreed.
“I am considering transferring and if will transfer, I will be comfortable with the NPC,” he said.
When Sotto had assumed the Senate presidency, Ejercito said he asked him about the possibility of joining the NPC since he was looking at the scenario that he and his brother could both run under one party. He added that he also plans to talk to Senator Koko Pimentel since he’s the PDP-Laban president.
He also admitted that the ongoing squabble within the PDP-Laban as another factor for changing his plan.
“Oo kasi ang hirap makisama na sa gulo at least dati sabi mababang kapulungan ayoko naman sa magulong kapulungan,” he said.