Only Mar Roxas, who is its president, has the prerogative to appoint local candidates, Victor Puey, Liberal Party chairman on political affairs, said yesterday.

The local LP has no authority to appoint, he said, in reaction to news reports that the party already has candidates for congressman and mayor in Bacolod City.

Puey said they are only supposed to organize sectoral and youth structures at this time. However, the other members of the LP have already assured some people that they will be the party’s local candidate for congressman or mayor when only Roxas has the authority to appoint, he said. Roxas has not yet proclaimed that he will run for president, he added.

Puey said he called up the office of Roxas and confirmed that none of them are authorized to appoint. He said he met with people of Roxas yesterday and reported the matter to Manila. The LP will decide on what action to take this week, he added.       

Meanwhile, LP provincial coordinator Jesus Hinlo Jr. said they did not announce that they already have local candidates for the LP in Bacolod. He said they are still in the nomination process. After that they will screen the candidates and will come up with an interim list, he added.

“Everything is still premature and we have not yet endorsed any candidate,” Hinlo said.

They cannot yet divulge the names of their possible candidates although several names have already been mentioned in the media, he said.

Hinlo said that although the name of Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue was mentioned on TV, the nomination process is still going on for the local candidates.

But he also said that, definitely, the local LP wants to find a complete list of candidates who will also lead the party campaign for Roxas when he later declares to run, including the senatorial slate of the LP. He added that they are in the process of organizing their party up to the grassroots.

On TV, there were names mentioned as candidates of the LP and they are still being considered, Hinlo said, but he claimed that they have not announced that they have candidates, adding that maybe everyone was just excited because they got good names for the party like former Councilor Lyndon Caña, Jack Matti, Joemax Ortiz who they believe are credible persons who will be sympathetic to the cause of the LP.*CGS

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