Ex-Marcos lawyer clarifies KBL leadership issue

The Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) — a party associated with the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos — has cleared up the confusion on who their president is and who has the power to nominate senatorial candidates for the 2013 midterm elections. In a statement on Monday, former Marcos lawyer Oliver Lozano identified Jaime Opinion, a former poll commissioner, as the party president, and lawyer Vicente Millora as party chairman. He said both have the authority to nominate KBL candidates. The confusion on who heads the KBL came to surface last Friday when party nominee Melchor Chavez, in defending his senatorial bid before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), insisted that Millora is the party president and not Opinion. Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said their records show Opinion is the president — a claim belied by Chavez. KBL was formed in 1978 as an "umbrella" coalition of parties supporting then-President Marcos for the Interim Batasang Pambansa. It was also his political vehicle during his rule. According to Lozano, Opinion assumed the position of Millora after the latter went on indefinite leave in April 2010. Millora later on settled for the position of chairman. Lozano, however, admitted that the party failed to notify many of its members about Millora’s new position. "The lack of notice of Millora's assumption as chairman is simple inadvertence," he said. Brillantes last Friday said Opinion had withdrawn the nominations of six KBL candidates, while Lozano has backed out from next year’s senatorial race. In his statement, Lozano apologized for the “harsh words said in anger” in behalf of other KBL candidates, referring to Chavez’s statement last Friday that Brillantes has no business in the leadership issue of the party. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/KBK, GMA News