Home 
Cracks have started to show in the Liberal Party on the eve of the filing of certificates of candidacies.
Former senator Serge Osmeña III will no longer run for senator under the LP due to what he described as ?mafia? inside the party.
?I'm fed up with the inside fighting...sa mafia sa liberal party,? he told Cebu Daily News.
His cousin John Henry Osmeña will not back down on his plan to run for mayor in Cebu City despite an appeal of LP stalwarts in deference to the dominant Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).
The 74-year-old former senator said he would continue with his bid as a ?rebel candidate? and file his certificate of candidacy on Monday morning.
Sonny was affronted by reports that his cousin, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, was chosen LP chairman in the city.
?That is unfair. That is something I will have to appeal,? said Sonny.
?If they do not resolve it in my favor, I'll be running as a rebel candidate?.
Butch Abad, LP general campaign manager, clarified that the mayor was chairman of the ?coalition? of LP and BO-PK.
He said Tomas didn?t take his oath as LP member so couldn?t be the party chairman in Cebu City.
?Mayor Tommy is with BO-PK (Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan), not with LP. But BO-PK and LP are in coalition. He (Tomas) is the chair of the BO-PK-LP coalition in Cebu City,? said Abad.
But Abad no longer sent a reply when asked who was the LP Cebu City chairman.
Abad also begged off from commenting on Sonny's plan to push ahead with his mayoralty bid.
He said the party leadership was also talking with Serge to convince him to stay. ?We are still hoping that things could be ironed out.?
Serge, who left the National People?s Coalition (NPC) to run under LP, said he felt betrayed about the party?s acceptance of Ralph Recto.
He said he told Abad and assistant campaign manager Rapa Lopa not to accept Recto or else he wouldn?t be part of the LP lineup.
Then he learned last Sunday that party officials decided to accept Recto and wife, Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos. No one from the party, not even Aquino, told him about it.
?They kept me in the dark,? he said.
He said Recto was pro-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and did not help expose anomalies of the Arroyo administration even if he was director general of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda).
Serge said his decision to leave was ?almost final? but he told Sen. Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III that they could for the last time and it may happen last night.
He said it would be difficult to change his mind especially that he didn't trust some people in Aquino's camp.
He, however, declined to name names.
Serge said he believed the LP just wanted to get Recto's wife, Vilma, for the party because that governor-actress would not join LP without her husband.
Still, Serge said he believed that Aquino was the best presidential aspirant given his track record, values and honesty.
But he would no longer carry Aquino and his running mate Sen. Mar Roxas.
He, however, would include other LP senatorial aspirants whom he said were his ?good officials.? They were Teofisto Gungona III and Raffy Biazon.
?I will not say any negative words against Noynoy,? he added.
Serge said he would run as an independent candidate.
He earlier turned down the offer of Sen. Manuel Vil lar and Joseph Estrada.
?I want a higher standard of public service. I don't want extra baggage when I run and win because my loyalty is to the Filipino people,? he said.
Many senators have won as independents such as Francis Pangilinan in 2007 and Miriam Santiago in 1995, he pointed out.
In Cebu City, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he won?t support Recto either because Recto didn?t help the Promdi partylist in 2004, not even in his bailiwick in Batangas prvince where Joy Augustus Young, Promdi first nominee almost got zero votes.
He said he supports Serge because his brother has helped Cebu.
