Only Dick shows up at forum

OF THE 11 POLITICIANS WHO HAVE indicated a desire to run for president and vice president in 2010, only Sen. Richard Gordon showed up at a forum organized by a group of Catholic educators at the Manila Hotel yesterday.

The National Leaders Forum, a three-day national convention of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP). Was partly aimed at showcasing the aspirants’ proposed solutions to issues of education and morality.

CEAP is the biggest organized group of Catholic schools with some 1,260 member institutions nationwide.

Gordon, in an interview after the forum, said the CEAP forum was not something that he would deliberately ignore.

Prior commitments

People have the right to hear what their leaders’ plans are, he said.

CEAP president Msgr. Gerardo Santos said that while Senators Manuel Villar, Francis Pangilinan, Loren Legarda, Manuel Roxas and Benigno Aquino III, and Vice President Noli de Castro declined because of prior commitments, deposed President Joseph Estrada did not answer the invitation at all.

The Lakas-CMD-Kampi’s likely presidential standard bearer Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro also pleaded a previous engagement, while Metro Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, who may have lost his bid to Teodoro, said he was sticking to a “self-imposed news blackout.

The CEAP president said Sen. Francis Escudero was “the first one to confirm” his attendance at the forum.

“But two minutes before the event, he said he could not make it,” said Santos.

He stressed that the CEAP will not be endorsing any presidential candidate next year.

By. Jeannette Andrade – Inquirer