MANILA, Philippines – Will former Liberal Party (LP) members or allies – especially those dropped by the administration party in 2013 elections – jump ship to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in 2016?

This might become the “trend,” according to UNA, after incumbent Batanes Governor Vicente Gato swore his oath as an UNA member on Monday, September 14.

In 2010, Gato ran and won for governor under LP. When he ran for re-election in 2013, however, the administration party fielded Marilou Cayco against him. Gato, who ran independently, was still re-elected, beating Cayco and UNA candidate Telesforo Castellejos.

Now Gato is seeking a 3rd term with UNA, the opposition party headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay. The Batanes governor expressed his confidence in Binay’s pro-poor platform.

Apart from Gato, a number of politicians and supporters from Batanes swore their oath as UNA members as well, including Nicanor Abad, the elder brother of LP stalwart Florencio “Butch” Abad.

Ten politicians from Lian, Batangas, also swore their oath after the Batanes group on Monday.

According to UNA secretary general JV Bautista, the oath-taking ceremony “is going to set a trend.”

It is going to be “a trend where incumbents who are strong leaders in their respective provinces will look at the political landscape and see that the Vice President is really worthy to become the next leader of the country and will, in all likelihood, become the next leader of this country,” Bautista told Rappler.

He surmised that these candidates, in looking after the interest of their constituencies, would like to be identified with the “victorious camp.”

Opportune time for UNA?

For Bautista, the oath taking of the group from Batanes is an “auspicious” event for the party.

“It is really very auspicious that Batanes started it all because Batanes is the northernmost province. So we hope this trend would go from north to south, down until we go to the last province in Mindanao, which would be Tawi-Tawi,” he said.

Bautista stressed, however, that UNA undergoes a “very rigorous process of negotiation and agreement of principles and programs of the party” in determining who UNA will be fielding in the local elections in 2016.

“This is a process of mutual negotiation. Sometimes they tell us they want to join UNA and we will also express that we would welcome their coming into UNA. We need to balance this also because we already have existing allies,” he added.

Binay agreed, telling reporters that he wants allies who share the same views as him.

“Ang hinahanap namin ay ‘yung parepareho kami ng paniniwala. Mahirap namang magsama-sama na magkakaiba kami ng paniniwala,” said the Vice President.

(We’re looking for people who share our beliefs. It would be difficult if we ran together when our views differed.) – with research by Michael Bueza/Rappler.com