Jamby files COC for president, plans solo campaign

Determined to pull off a one-woman show in her presidential bid for 2010, Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal filed Tuesday her certificate of candidacy (COC) for the country’s highest post. At the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office in Manila, Madrigal, clad in a neon-green blazer, said she will run as an independent candidate in 2010 without a running mate and senatorial slate to prove that she is not a traditional presidential aspirant, but "a candidate of the people." "I shall run without a vice president and without a senatorial slate to allow all like-minded candidates and people to unite under a shared and genuine progressive vision and platform of government based on principled politics," Madrigal said. Moreover, she said she wants to go on a solo presidential campaign so as not to be indebted to any party or big businessmen who fuel the machinery of other candidates. "My family has left me enough to run a decent campaign," she said. Madrigal also said that if elected president, she will prioritize abrogating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). "I plan to prioritize the needs of the Filipinos and not of foreign investors. I want to reassert the Filipino sovereignty," the senator said. Madrigal, who was elected senator during the 2004 national elections, has opposed these two agreements during her stay in the Senate. The 51-year old senator, granddaughter of former Chief Justice and Japanese occupation hero Jose Abad Santos, has authored and sponsored bills on the protection of the environment and of women while in Senate. These include a measure for the imposition of total log ban in the country, as well as a repeal of the controversial Mining Act of 1995. - LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV