Recto claims Batangas folk urged him to switch political party

To questions on why he and his wife suddenly switched political allegiance, former socio-economic secretary and senator Ralph Recto has a quick answer: My “constituents" wanted us to do so. In a radio interview Tuesday, Recto insisted that he and his wife, Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto, were convinced to switch to the Liberal Party (LP) after “consulting" with Batangas folk. “Meron tayong mahalagang election 2010, kung kaya umiikot tayo, nagtatanong sa kababayan, nagkokonsulta kung ano ang nararapat. Minsan ang leader ay dapat makinig sa tao. Sabi ng aming mga kababayan sa aming lalawigan na kung maaari, tulungan si Noynoy at si Mar (We have an important election coming so we went around Batangas consulting with the people. During our consultations, they wanted us to help Sen. Benigno Simeon ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III and Sen. Manuel Roxas II)," he said in an interview on dwIZ radio. Aquino is running for president under the LP banner, while Roxas is his running mate. Recto said he will run for senator while his wife will run for reelection as governor. Recto lost during the 2007 senatorial elections under the administration's Team Unity ticket. Recto and Vilma formally became members of the LP on Monday. Both had been allied with the administration Lakas-Kampi party before switching party loyalties. [See: Ralph Recto, Vilma Santos latest LP recruits] Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who also comes from Batangas, admitted that the defection of the Recto couple was a loss for the administration, considering the clout of Santos in the vote-rich province. As of July 2009, Batangas has about 1.2 million registered voters.

'Consultation' Recto said he and his wife talked about joining the LP after one month of going around Batangas to "consult" their constituents. "Most of our constituents said we should help Noynoy and Mar," he said. Recto also said the LP had invited him and his wife to join the campaign, and to help in the new government should Aquino become president. He downplayed questions about his party loyalty, saying he already has a track record. Besides, he said, he has figured well in recent surveys on prospective senatorial candidates. He also said people are beginning to appreciate the unpopular measures he had pushed such as the value-added tax (VAT). “Alam ng taumbayan yan. Kung di natin ginawa yan (VAT), palagay ko mas mahirap ngayon ang ating ekonomiya at ang piso baka umabot sa P100: US$1. Magkano ang presyo ng bilihin kung sakali. At siguro di natin nalampasan ang economic crisis kung di natin nagawa yan. So palagay ko marami sa kababayan natin natulungan ng VAT," he said. (People know that without the VAT, the peso’s value would have gone down to P100 to $1, and we may not have ridden out the economic crisis). -GMANews.TV