Gearing up for the 2013 midterm elections, Senate whistleblower Joey de Venecia III yesterday said the PDP-Laban is looking into the possibility of forming a coalition with local political parties in Negros Occidental.

De Venecia, PDP-Laban secretary general, denied reports of a coalition with the ruling Liberal Party of President Benigno Aquino III for the 2013 elections.

“For us, it is too early to discuss coalitions with national political parties, especially that we are over a year away from the campaign period,” De Venecia said yesterday at the gathering of PDP-Laban leaders in Negros Occidental, at a hotel in Bacolod City.

“We are more interested in local alliances,” he said, adding “ we feel that down here it would be easier, to be able to expand our political party”.

Asked it PDP-Laban will coalesce with the local party, United Negros Alliance, he said it has not been discussed yet.

Vice President Jejomar Binay is the PDP-Laban chairman, with Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III as the party president.

De Venecia said PDP-Laban may be interested to coalesce with other political parties “to help the typhoon Sendong victims in Mindanao and Negros Oriental.”

Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Ronald Llamas had earlier hinted of a possible coalition between the ruling LP and PDP-Laban, for the May 2013 midterm elections.

De Venecia, who confirmed his intention to run again in the 2013 senatorial race with Koko Pimentel, said the PDP-Laban, which coalesced with the Partido ng Masa of former President Joseph Estrada in the 2010 national elections, is now undergoing a lot of changes.

But, he added, that they are sticking to their advocacy. “We don’t want to entertain political turncoats to our party,” de Venecia said.

De Venecia also admitted that the 2013 election is very important to PDP-Laban, as the result will set the ground for 2016.

He also said that there is a a high probability of a rematch between Vice-President Binay and Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel Roxas III, this time in the presidential race.

Binay defeated Roxas in the 2010 vice-presidential race.*GPB

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